Stefanos Tsitsipas was once again eliminated early at a tournament, this time at the 2023 Mallorca Championships.
After finishing the 2022 season with an 8-3 record on grass courts, the Greek was certainly confident ahead of the 2023 season. However, after losing in his first match in Stuttgart, and in his second match in Halle, things were not looking good for Tsitsipas.
Yet, his hopes were maybe high ahead of the 2023 Mallorca Championships, as he was the defending champion at the event. Practicing with his girlfriend Paula Badosa prior to the tournament, the top seed in Mallorca was also supported by the Spanish No. 1 on the WTA Tour during the match.
In his first match in Mallorca, the first seed took on Yannick Hanfmann after a bye in the first round. On the other hand, the German defeated Pedro Cachin in his opening match, having more match practice than his opponent.
And that was clear early in the match. Already in the first game, Hanfmann broke his opponent's serve and never gave him a chance to break back. He controlled every single one of his service games in the opening set, winning it 6-4.
Embracing the defending champion title, Tsitsipas fought back in the second set. Despite facing three break points in the third game, he needed only one chance in the eighth game of the second set to break and win the set 6-3 to force a decider.
But even despite taking the match into the third set, the Greek couldn't produce a good enough level to beat his opponent. Hanfmann had to break points and used both to win the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, and reach the 2023 Mallorca Championships quarterfinals.
While the German will now focus on his upcoming match against either retiring Feliciano Lopez or Jordan Thompson, Tsitsipas will want to forget terrible grass-court preparation and head to Wimbledon with an open mind.
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