Stefanos Tsitsipas survives 4-hour thriller against qualifier Kolar at Roland Garros

Stefanos Tsitsipas survived another gruelling match at Roland Garros beating Zdenek Collar after four hours of play 6-3 7-6(8) 7-6(3) 7-6(7).

It was a superb match between Tsitsipa and Kolar as the Czech player rose up dramatically to this occasion on his first grand slam appearance. Tsitsipas won the opening set with 6-3 and everything looked the way it was supposed to. Tsitsipas was serving well his forehand was working. He had 13 winners and looked very sharp. The 2nd set was played much better by Kolar as he went up 4-1 early.

Stefanos battled back to make it 5-5 and he had a huge hold at 6-5 saving two set points being down 15-40. We went into the tiebreak and Tsitsipas won it 10-8 after a very dramatic few rallies. The next set once again went into the tiebreak as neither was able to find a breakthrough. This time around Kolar rose to the occasion as Tsitsipas kind of lost focus when it mattered the most.

Read also

2022 Roland Garros ATP & WTA Prize Money Breakdown with €43.6m overall

Kolar won it 7-3 and we went into a fourth set. It was an exciting set as both players were starting to feel tired after playing for four hours and we saw many momentum swings. Tsitsipas broke first but lost his serve in the very next game. We went into another tiebreak and Kolar jumped out to a 6-2 lead. He served for the set then but went on to lose four points in a row to give Tsitsipas life.

Eventually, the Greek was able to exert enough pressure with his forehand to win the match 9-7 after four hours and 9 minutes of play. After the match, Tsitsipas slammed the racquet into the ground and explained that his opponent drove him crazy during the match.