The World number five Stefanos Tsitsipas has won his opening match in Miami with a hard-fought victory against the American J.J. Wolf. 

The Greek number one wrapped up the victory in just over two hours winning 6-4, (5) 6-7, 6-1. The Australian Open semi-finalist came through a stern test against a man ranked 162 places below him in the ATP rankings, with Tistsipas claiming experience was the key to the second-round win.

”I was expecting him to play the match of his life you know. He had nothing to lose. I’ve been in situations like this before and I very much know how to handle situations like this and speaking from experience it worked in the third set and I think kind of letting go and relaxing a bit helped me a lot and gave me that win.”

The win brought up 50 career Masters 1000 wins for Stefanos Tsitsipas, making him the 111th player ever to reach this milestone. Interestingly, he is just the 8th player born in 1990’s and the first player born in 1998 or later to accomplish this feat. It has been a month of milestones for Tsitsipas as at the Mexico Open in Acapulco, the 23 year old recorded the 200th win of his career.

Stefanos Tsitsipas will be looking to add a second Masters title to his collection this week in Miami after winning in Monte Carlo last year. He is set to face the Australian and 25th seed Alex de Minaur for a place in the fourth round. The two players have met on seven previous occasions, with Tsitsipas winning them all. Their most recent meeting came at the quarter-finals of the Rotterdam Open last month where Tsitsipas won in straight sets.

Source: tennishead.net