Tsitsipas Cruises Through Barcelona Opener

Could 2023 be the year Stefanos Tsitsipas goes all the way at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell?

A finalist in 2018 and 2021, the second-seeded Greek made the perfect start to his 2023 campaign on Wednesday at the clay-court ATP 500 by easing past Pedro Cachin 6-4, 6-2 on Pista Rafa Nadal.

“I was able to bring good tennis out there on the court,” said Tsitsipas, who is now 17-5 for 2023. “I kept mixing it up. I kept being very aggressive, more than I’m used to, so the whole evaluation is positive. I’m happy with how things evolved over the course of the match.

“It’s one of those matches I was able to figure out from early on, keep up with the pace, and anything that was being thrown at me I was reacting to it very positively and being very smooth on the court.”

Tsitsipas did not face a break point and converted all three of his own during a dominant 79-minute display against the No. 69-ranked Argentine. He was consistent with his groundstrokes off both wings and showcased some delicate touches at the net to bounce back superbly from his Monte-Carlo quarter-final defeat to Taylor Fritz five days ago.

Tsitsipas is now 13-4 in Barcelona, where he fell to Rafael Nadal in both of his previous championship-match appearances. The 24-year-old’s third-round opponent will be Denis Shapovalov, who earlier brushed past qualifier Jozef Kovalik 6-4, 6-3.

“It’s always a motivation for me when I step out on these courts,” said Tsitsipas, when asked about his desire to lift the title in Barcelona. “Obviously, good memories are in the back of my head. It’s two finals, but still you keep the positives instead of sticking too much to what went wrong in [those finals].

“I’m just happy to be here… I’m just enjoying the tennis and hoping ‘Why not?’ for the final, but still a very long way to go.”

A Top 20 third-round clash between Cameron Norrie and Lorenzo Musetti was set for Thursday in Catalunya after both notched comfortable straight-sets victories at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899.

Seventh seed Norrie, the No. 13 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, raced past qualifier Pavel Kotov 6-1, 6-2 to improve to 11-2 on clay for the year. The Briton, who is chasing his second ATP 500 on clay in 2023 after his title run in Rio de Janeiro in February, converted four of his nine break points to ease to a 73-minute win on Pista Andres Gimeno.

Musetti dispatched Jason Kubler 6-3, 6-1 to reach the third round in Barcelona for the second time. The No. 20-ranked Italian, who defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the biggest win of his career in Monte-Carlo last week, can reach his fourth tour-level quarter-final of 2023 by beating Norrie.