Tsitsipas Navigates Rain-Delayed Sonego Challenge To Advance in Rome

| by Sebastian Dahlman

Stefanos Tsitsipas will play two matches on one day after he defeated Lorenzo Sonego in the third round of the 2023 Italian Open in Rome.

The third-round match in Rome, which was also a third meeting on the ATP Tour for the two, had to be postponed as many other matches due to rain. In the previous two meetings, Tsitsipas won on the hard courts in the United States, but this time, the situation was different.

Sonego played in front of the home fans and he wanted to rely on their support to overcome the fifth-seeded Greek. But after a little slump in form, Tsitsipas is back at his best and he's showing it also in Rome.

In the first set, the fifth seed secured one break, but especially his serving was on points. He won 16 of 17 points after he hit his first serve and that helped him to keep the one-break advantage throughout the first set and win it 6-3.

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The second set, which was played on Monday as well as on Tuesday due to the rain, saw both players holding all of their serves, despite both having chances to break. Therefore, the second set had to be decided in a tie-break.

Tsitsipas, knowing that in case of a win he will have to play one more match, didn't want to take matters any further and did his best to win the tie-break. He succeeded on that mission, winning it 7-3 and securing his spot in the fourth round of the 2023 Italian Open.

In the next match on Tuesday, he will take on either another Italian Lorenzo Musetti, or Frances Tiafoe, who was really angry about the fact that he had to play in the rain yesterday. If the Greek succeeds, he will get another step closer to a potential meeting with Daniil Medvedev, which is awaited by many fans, as the two don't seem to be on speaking terms.

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