Mallorca Open Final LIVE: Stefanos Tsitsipas showed few signs of nerves in his maiden ATP Tour grass-court final on Saturday at the Mallorca Championships, where the second seed downed Roberto Bautista Agut to claim his first tour-level title on the surface. Follow Mallorca Open LIVE updates on InsideSport.IN
Mallorca Open Final LIVE: Stefanos Tsitsipas wins maiden title on grass, defeats Roberto Bautista Agut in Mallorca Open final
TSITSI-GRASS 🏆@steftsitsipas holds strong to defeat Bautista Agut 6-4 3-6 7-6 and claims his first grass title!#MallorcaChampionships pic.twitter.com/c03k8MLXAF
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 25, 2022
In a topsy-turvy encounter, Tsitsipas was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set, but the Greek held firm to claim a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) win and clinch the ninth tour-level title of his career. The second seed was clinical with his opportunities at key moments to prevail after two hours and 31 minutes.
“It looks like I’m playing longer matches on grass than I do on clay,” joked Tsitsipas in his on-court interview. “This was an incredible fight and an incredible battle. I know it can be difficult for one person to deal with the loss, but I think for tennis it is great that we are able to play at this high level and show our sport [at its limits].”
It was a Tour-leading 40th win of the season for Tsitsipas, who also lifted the trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April. The Greek moved past Ilya Ivashka, Marcos Giron, Benjamin Bonzi and Bautista Agut this week to improve his career record on grass to 14-10, and Tsitsipas climbed one spot to No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his exploits in Mallorca.