Stefanos Tsitsipas avoided another early exit on grass by coming back to win at the 2023 Halle Open against Gregoire Barrere in three sets 6-7(6) 6-4 7-6(3).
Tsitsipas was never lauded as a grass court expert but he made some tangible improvements under the tutelage of Mark Philippoussis who became his coach primarily to improve his serve and make him play better on grass. It worked out well for him as he managed to win his maiden trophy on the surface in Mallorca last year.
He then had his best Wimbledon run though unable to beat Kyrgios. Despite that, Tsitsipas recently parted ways with the coach who started working with Sakkari recently. The reason for the split was too much input as he opted to stay with his father instead of Philippoussis. The coaching dynamics in his team have been a question of debate for a while with some wanting him to try something else.
In any case, Tsitsipas began his grass season in Stuttgart last week following a Dubai outing with Badosa. It wasn't a great start as he lost against Gasquet but redemption came in Halle this week. Facing another French player, Tsitsipas managed to play a better match winning the match in three sets.
It was still shaky at times as he struggled to break Barrere in the first set despite the Frenchman not being able to channel his Le Servebot which he can summon at times. Six break points were wasted by Tsitsipas who didn't face a single on his serve making the loss of set even worse. It wasn't a great tiebreak and Barrere won it 8-6.
The second set didn't start great as Tsitsipas lost his serve early but managed to fight back using the break chance this time around and he did it again later on in the set to win it 6-4. It was a more sobering effort from Tsitsipas after he nearly threw away the match completely.
Barrere for the most part was playing a really strong match as well risking more than Tsitsipas at times for which he was rewarded. Tsitsipas nearly threw the match away for a second time by giving his opponent break points late in the match but rallied to stay in the match. The tiebreak was close but ultimately Tsitsipas took it 7-3.
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