Stefanos Tsitsipas moves on as he enjoys ‘no-trouble match’ in Marseille

Shahida Jacobs 21 Feb 2019 8:42 AM

Stefanos Tsitsipas won his first match in three outings as he beat Hubert Hurkacz in his opening clash at the Open 13 in Marseille.

After reaching the semi-final of the Australian Open, Tsitsipas lost his second match at the Sofia Open and then made a first-round exit from the Rotterdam event a week later.

However, he was back to winning in the second round of the Open 13 as he eased to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Hurkacz in just an hour.

The Greek broke once in the first set and twice in the second.

“It was a good match. I enjoyed it. I am moving on,” Tsitsipas said after his win. “It is nice to start so well. It was a ‘no-trouble match’. Everything went smooth. Breaks happened when they had to happen. It was a solid match.”

Fourth seed Denis Shapovalov crashed out as the Canadian suffered a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) defeat at the hands of Mikhail Kukushkin.

#MikhailKukushkin defeats 4th seed @denis_shapo 6-4 / 7-6 (7-4) and qualifies for #quarters #Open13Provence #atp250 pic.twitter.com/f4laaat3kC

— Open 13 Provence (@Open13) February 20, 2019

French wildcard Ugo Humbert, meanwhile, set up a round-two clash against second seed Borna Coric with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win over Ernests Gulbis while Matthias Bachinger beat Steve Darcis 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Eighth seed Gilles Simon had his work cut out for him as the Frenchman came from a set down to beat Peter Gojowczyk 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.