Stefanos Tsitsipas Starting the Barcelona Open season 2021 never let his opponent Jaume Munar get the opportunity to develop.
Fueling her confidence by winning the first Masters 1000 tournament title of her career at the Monte Carlo Open last week, the second seed overcame wildcard host Munar’s persistence in the second set before clinching a 6-0, 6-2 win after 78. minutes in the second half of the Barcelona Open.
“It’s great to be able to play tennis like today (21/4), even with a little rain in the second set,” Stefanos Tsitsipas exclaimed.
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“I think I handled the situation well. I serviced nicely and felt comfortable from the baseline area. I’m trying to be aggressive. My hitting worked well and I tried to hit winners from all over the court.”
Thanks to this victory over Munar, the Greek national has won 23 of the 28 matches he has played this season.
The world number 5 won 15 of the first 17 points and fired 11 winners in the first set which ended after 28 minutes when Munar’s forehand return hit the net.
The 22-year-old won seven straight games until the start of the second set, before dropping slightly.
The player who made it to the final of the Andalucia Open in 2021 (lost to Pablo Carreno Busta), Munar started to heat up in the second set and although he couldn’t convert break point chances at 1-1 and 2-3, he struggled.
However, the host’s struggle was not strong enough to stem the second seed who won the last four games, so that the world number 5 still dominates head to head against the host tennis player by 3-0.
Standing between Tsitsipas and a Barcelona Open quarter-final ticket is the 14th seed Alex De Minaur.
The Australian national, De Minaur took 86 minutes to eliminate the Kazakh national Alexander Bublik with 7-6, 6-2.
To date, Tsitsipas have dominated head to head against world number 25 De Minaur 4-0, including winning their last meeting in the ATP Cup earlier in the 2021 season.
