Stefanos Tsitsipas made it to the second round of the 2024 Paris Masters, but his match against Roberto Carballes Baena was far from simple.
The Greek player entered the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season with one goal in his mind. He's currently the 12th player in the 2024 ATP Race, and he will likely want to secure a spot at the ATP Finals in Turin with a late push.
His chances, like those of the rest of the players, might be increased by the fact that Novak Djokovic's withdrawal from the Paris Masters might indicate that the Serbian player doesn't plan to play anymore this season. If he finishes the race in the Top 8, his withdrawal would allow also the ninth player to qualify for the year-end tournament.
Tsitsipas might be the player benefitting from that, but he first needs to get to that ninth spot, as that is a bit far at the moment, and only a title win would likely give him a chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals.
His first-round opponent, on the other hand, didn't even expect to play in the main draw in Paris. Carballes Baena lost in the final round of the qualifying to Lorenzo Sonego.
Thanks to Felix Auger-Aliassime's withdrawal from the tournament, one spot for a lucky loser opened up, and Carballes Baena took it, with the draw giving him Tsitsipas in the first round.
And the Spaniard certainly used his chance well. In the first set of the match, both players served exceptionally. In the first four games, neither lost more than one point in any of the service games, with the score locked at 2-2.
However, after that, Tsitsipas lost his serve to love, as Carballes Baena won 12 consecutive points. Both continued serving exceptionally, again not losing more than one point on their serves.
That was only until the tenth game of the first set when Carballes Baena was serving to win the set. He felt the pressure, facing two break points, but saved both and converted his first set point to win the set 6-4.
With a one-set advantage, the lucky loser could play more freely, but his opponent had an insane start into the second set. Tsitsipas won the first eight points, giving him a very swift 2-0 lead.
Surprisingly, the Greek player lost the one-break advantage immediately in the following game. However, he was able to right his wrongs by breaking again, and this time, confirming the break to lead 4-1.
He then didn't lose the advantage, comfortably serving out the second set of the match to win it 6-3, and force the decider in his first-round match at the 2024 Paris Masters.
Both had multiple break point chances in the third set. Tsitsipas had three break points in the first game, one in the third game, and two more in the ninth game. Carballes Baena, on the other hand, had one in the fourth game and two in the eighth game.
What mattered was the efficiency. While Tsitsipas used two of his six chances, his opponent couldn't use any of his break points, and that meant the Greek player was able to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, advancing into the second round, in which he'll await the winner of the match between Nuno Borges and Alejandro Tabilo.
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