Tsitsipas Achieves Best Result Yet In Melbourne

All the kinks had been worked out for Viktor Troicki. The 32-year-old Serbian had already played four matches, including qualifying, and he knew the Melbourne conditions as well as anyone before his second-round match.

But it didn’t matter against Greece’s #NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas, who played aggressively and outdid the Serbian veteran on Wednesday 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round of the Australian Open for the first time.

Tsitsipas made history on Monday, becoming the first Greek player to win a match at the Australian Open. Next he’ll try to match some personal best Grand Slam showings.

He reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, his best Grand Slam performance. He’ll face Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili for a place in the fourth round. Basilashvili found a way to beat Italian qualifier Stefano Travaglia 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 despite hitting more unforced errors (57) than winners (42).

Tsitsipas dominated for the first set and a half before Troicki found a way into it, breaking in the sixth and eighth games to even the match. But Tsitsipas, buoyed by a contingent of boisterous Greek fans, returned to his aggressive ways to put away Troicki, who was going for his fifth third-round appearance in Melbourne.

The 20-year-old Tsitsipas was successful on 65 per cent of his trips to the net (24/37). The reigning Intrum Stockholm Open and Next Gen ATP Finals champion will want to shore up one stat before his third-round tilt: break points. He won only four of his 19 opportunities (21%).