Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was made to fight for Australian Open survival today against Sebastian Baez, before he eventually won through against the Argentine 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.
The Greek wasn’t on top form on Margaret Court Arena but stood firm as he patiently went about his business to defeat the 21-year-old.
“It wasn’t easy,” Tsitsipas said afterwards.
“I’m glad I overcame that obstacle. I’m glad to be in the third round. It was a pretty hot day today playing here but I tried to play with heart and it paid off in the end.
“I tried to go for my shots a little bit more. In certain moments I got a bit lucky with finding the right depth and coming in.
“On the return I tried to stay as close to the baseline as possible and cut out time for him and push him back a bit more. These are type of things I work on and dedicate myself to.”
Tsitsipas went down a break in the first set, before breaking back himself and then winning the tiebreak.
The second set was different though, with both players unable to break before another tiebreak forced the issue.
Tsitsipas went 5-3 up, but Baez fought back and won the next four points.
With Baez visibly tiring Tsitsipas took control in the third and won out in the fourth to secure victory.
He will next face 26th seed Grigor Dimitrov or Frenchman Benoit Paire.
