Stefanos Tsitsipas survives against Vesely in Paris

It was close and it was harder than it needed to be but Stefanos Tsitsipas ultimately did beat Jiri Vesely 7-5 6-3 4-6 7-6(7) to advance at Roland Garros.

Stefanos Tsitsipas experienced a rocky start to his Roland Garros campaign losing his serve pretty early on but he remained composed to turn things around. There were moments in this match where Tsitsipas looked vulnerable and that doesn't bode too well for the rest of the event but this didn't generally look that different from his usual Roland Garros start.

The first set was the most exciting one as Vesely took an early break with some really decent shot-making and then held it comfortably for a while thanks to his serve. It's a major weapon and even in these slower conditions, Vesely was able to utilize it really well. Things changed when he allowed Tsitsipas to break after which he kind of fell apart allowing Stefanos to take the opening set 7-5.

The second set was much simpler for Tsitsipas as he found a really good rhytm by now and he patiently waited for that one bad service game that was going to come to break. That is what happened and Tsitsipas broke which was enough for him to cruise in the second set as he didn't allow a single break point chance to his opponent.

The third set almost proved to be the final set but it was one which Vesely won. He was able to play some of his best tennis outside of the first few games of this match applying heavy pressure on Tsitsipsa a few times. In the final game of the set Vesely worked his way to a double set point and converted the first after a Tsitsipas forehand error into the net.

The 4th set saw Tsitsipas complicate way too much. He took an early lead but then got broken and almost got broken again. It was only then that he finally stepped it up and started playing better. Despite that, he needed the tiebreak to win the match 9-7 and he avoided disaster with that one.