Tsitsipas credits consistency for shaky first round Rotterdam victory

Stefanos Tsitsipas kicked off his ABN AMRO WTT Rotterdam campaign on Tuesday, recording a straight sets victory over Egor Gerasimov.

The second seed required an hour and 54 minutes to defeat the Belarusian, but pulled off the 7-6(4) 7-5 victory to book his place in the second round.

"I had to play more consistently and also what I increased in the key moments was the speed of my ball, which felt kind of floppy before. He had a solid game, he was serving well at times. He wasn't missing a lot, so it was difficult," Tsitsipas said. "I think once I put in my head that I needed to fight and I couldn't take any single moment for granted, things changed and I felt the confidence."

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After stunning Rafael Nadal to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open last month, Tsitsipas is now 7-1 on the season. He next faces Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated France's Adrian Mannarino 6-3 7-6(6) earlier in the day. The Greek star leads his Polish opponent 5-1 in head-to-head meetings, although their last four matches have gone to a deciding set.

"We've played a lot in the past. He's a great opponent, he's been giving me a hard time. It's a challenge going into that match," Tsitsipas said. "He can serve well, he has a great backhand that he can play both cross and down the line, so I think that's one of his biggest weapons. His forehand, I would say he doesn't make a lot of mistakes from that side. But overall he's a very solid, very consistent player."

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