Australian Open 2022 - Stefanos Tsitsipas battles past Sebastian Baez in tough second round test

ByJames Kilpatrick

Updated 20/01/2022 at 08:00 GMT

Stefanos Tsitsipas continues his pursuit of his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne with a hard-fought victory in four sets against Argentina's Sebastian Baez. The two-time Australian Open semi-finalist was pushed to the limit by the highly-rated 21-year-old. Stream the 2022 Australian Open live and on demand on discovery+.

Stefanos Tsitsipas progressed to the third round of the Australian Open after beating Sebastian Baez 7-6(1) 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena.

Baez, on his Grand Slam debut, gave the Greek a tough test in their first meeting, but the No. 4 seed prevailed in three hours and 21 minutes.

"It wasn't easy," Tsitsipas said afterwards.

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"I'm glad I overcame that obstacle. I'm glad to be in the third round. It was a pretty hot day today playing here but I tried to play with heart and it paid off in the end.

"I tried to go for my shots a little bit more. In certain moments I got a bit lucky with finding the right depth and coming in.

"On the return I tried to stay as close to the baseline as possible and cut out time for him and push him back a bit more. These are type of things I work on and dedicate myself to."

Tsitsipas went down a break in the opening set, but he broke back instantly and the two went to a tie-break. The No. 4 seed was untroubled, though, winning the first five points before taking it 7-1 as the Argentine overcooked a lob.

The second set was very tight with neither player even producing a break point and they went to another tie-break. Tsitsipas looked like he would take it at 5-3 up, but Baez fought back and won the next four points.

With Baez tiring slightly, Tsitsipas took advantage and reeled off five games in a row. Baez did well to claw back three but Tsitsipas then sealed the set on his serve.

Baez continued to play high quality tennis in the fourth set on his first serve, but Tsitsipas got the sole break he needed in the third game before going on to secure the victory.

'It's his' - Tsitsipas battles to opening set in tough tie-break

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