FRANCE: The Greek Tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas outclassed the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to successfully defend the Monte Carlo Masters, here on Sunday.
The Greek, who was appearing in his fourth final at this level, has now won two ATP Masters 1000 titles, and has also won eight tour-level trophies.
With his one-hour and 34-minute victory over Fokina, Tsitsipas joins Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Thomas Muster, Bjorn Borg, and Ilie Nastase as the only players to successfully defend the Monte Carlo Masters title in the Open Era.
The Spaniard Fokina got out to a fast start on Court Rainier III, showing no signs of jitters as he started the better, swiftly establishing his range on his forehand from the baseline to collect an early break. Tsitsipas, on the other hand, reacted swiftly by hitting with more depth and sending a forehand past the Spaniard to tie the game at 2-2.
The Greek then kept imposing his heavy-hitting game on Fokina, dragging the 22-year-old from corner to corner as he won four of the following five games to take the lead.
Fueled by the momentum, the third seed took further control of the match and the 22-years-old Spaniard Fokina, despite showing the signs of grit remained short of pulling the game into his favour.
READ: PCB completes inquiry of the team’s dismal performance in ICC U19 WC