NEW YORK (Reuters) – Greek fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas kicked off his quest for a maiden Grand Slam title in style as he overwhelmed Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2 6-1 6-1 on Monday to reach the second round of the U.S. Open.
Tsitsipas, who entered the first Grand Slam of the COVID-19 era fresh off a run to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open tune-up event, never faced a break point and broke Ramos-Vinolas seven times during the 98-minute match.
The 22-year-old Tsitsipas, who has never been beyond the second round of the U.S. Open, came into this week with 16 wins to his name this season and has been tipped by many to make a deep run in a tournament missing a number of top players.
Tsitsipas broke to go ahead 3-1 and that opened up his game as he went on to play the rest of the contest on his terms.
The loss brought a speedy end to Ramos-Vinolas’s return to competition as the Spaniard, in his first tour-level event since the ATP Tour returned from its COVID-19 hiatus, withdrew from last week’s tune-up to be present at the birth of his first child.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; editing by Clare Fallon)
