Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas returned to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after a five-month break, defeating Italian Lorenzo Sonego with a score of 7-6 (4), 6-3 yesterday, on Monday, and advanced to the second round.
"I feel pretty confident. I'm happy with my match. Of course, I could have played better, but that's normal," noted Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas, who currently ranks 11th in the world rankings, also had notable success in previous appearances at 500-level tournaments, reaching the finals in 2019 and 2020, where he lost to Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic respectively.
Tsitsipas's next opponent will be Karen Khachanov, against whom he has faced nine times in ATP tournaments and trained together in Dubai. Khachanov, who has been living in Dubai since 2016, aims to improve his record in head-to-head matches (1-8) against Tsitsipas.
Tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas continues to compete for victory at the 33rd ATP tournament in Dubai until March 1.
