Stefanos Tsitsipas had to dig deep to defeat Zdenek Kolar from the Czech Republic and reach the third round of the 2022 Roland Garros.
After recovering from two sets down in the first round against Lorenzo Musetti and winning in five, Tsitsipas enjoyed a huge cushion this time, taking a 6-3, 7-6 lead after the first two sets.
But Kolar, 25, competing in the Roland Garros main draw for the first time, showed why his spot in the second round was no fluke. He won the third set in a tie-break and stretched the Greek into another tie-break in the fourth set.
The Czech played with nothing to lose and executed his game plan almost to perfection. Tsitsipas praised him for his bravery and variation. Kolar played a lot better than his current ranking suggests, strategically using drop shots, slices, and lobs while maintaining his baseline solidity.
Speaking after the match, a relieved Tsitsipas told reporters that he didn't know a lot about Kolar, who usually plays most of his tennis at Challenger level.
"It's never easy playing guys that don't really play on the ATP Tour. You don't really know what to expect, I guess they play more freely. They really have a nothing-to-lose mentality. That is a completely different mentality than what we have, what sometimes can be brutal on the court and create some good tennis."
Last year's runner-up, who before the tournament ruled himself out from the list of favorites, also stated that he was extremely frustrated at his inability to get enough purchase on his return games, only breaking three times from 12 chances. Tsitsipas eventually needed four hours and three tiebreaks to prevail.
"He drove me crazy. It was really frustrating. He was putting every part of his body behind the ball… It was an incredible effort. A complete player I would say. I knew it was going to be difficult today."
"He's an intelligent player I would say. I could see that, the more the match was progressing I could see that he's very intelligent and the way he perceives tennis and his tactics."
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