"I can play against anyone" - says Tsitsipas after successful Lyon Open start

Stefanos Tsitsipas started off his Lyon Open campaign with a strong win over Tommy Paul.

Not many players have been more consistent than Stefanos Tsitsipas this year and his level and tennis displayed on clay has been particularly impressive. He added another impressive showing at the Lyon Open where he started off with a win over Tommy Paul. It took him only 76 minutes to defeated the American 6-1 6-4. Afterwards, he said:

"I [took] control of the match from early on, and after that, I didn't let go. I had a few opportunities in the second set to go up a double break and I missed a shot that I felt like I shouldn't have missed. But [overall] I was playing good tennis today. I was able to move him around the court and find angles, press with my forehand. It wasn't my best day on serve, but I found solutions when things proved difficult."

The win propelled Tsitsipas to his 9th quarterfinal of the year where he will face Yoshihito Nishioka. On that match Tsitsipas said:

“He is a player who is very fast, and I think that helps on clay. He has clay-court tennis, so for sure I am going to take that match as an important one."

Tsitsipas took a wild card entry at this event to get some more matches in before the Roland Garros:

“I feel like I'm playing good tennis and I can play against anyone. For me, these matches are important, every single one of them. It’s going to be a battle against Yoshihito who is a lefty, on red clay which is my favourite surface.”