Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Flavio Cobolli to reach the quarterfinal of the Mexican Open in Acapulco, despite almost letting his advantage slip in the second set.
The two-time Grand Slam runner-up had started well in his first match. Tsitsipas eased through in the opening round of the event. He was hoping for a similar performance against Cobolli
The support for the Greek inside the stadium was even louder than the previous match. He has been well received at the tournament because of the gesture Tsitsipas has made to help the people of Acapulco.
This will have made Tsitsipas even more determined to put on a show for the crowd. Fortunately, he was able to give the crowd the result that they wanted to see.
Tsitsipas was lively from the start and created break point chances early on, which were saved by Cobolli. But the Italian was then broken by his relentless opponent after much pressure.
Cobolli did have two break points to hit back but Tsitsipas was able to fend them off with some reassured serving and hitting from the baseline. He served it out to claim the opening set 6-3.
Both players served well throughout the majority of the second set. Cobolli did have one lapse where he had to save break points but he managed to hold his nerve well to rescue the situation.
Another lapse then came from Cobolli, which saw Tsitsipas take a 5-4 lead and a chance to serve for the match. But the Greek's level then dropped. He was broken for the first time in the contest, and eventually a tiebreak was needed to decide the second set.
Tsitsipas hit a string of loose shots in the tiebreak to put himself in real trouble. Cobolli took a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak, and it seemed like a deciding set was going to be needed.
However, Cobolli then faltered at the crucial moment. He made four consecutive unforced errors and then double-faulted at 6-6 to give Tsitsipas match point on his serve, which he duly took to seal a 6-3 7-6 triumph.