In the second round of the men’s singles competition, T. Monteiro, who celebrated his 30th birthday in May, sensationally beat Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas (ATP-7) 6:4, 6:4 and reached the third round of the Masters championship for the first time in his career.
Even 24 winner the experienced Brazilian tennis master, who wrote off his opponents, defeated a tennis player from the top ten of the ATP ranking for only the fourth time in his career.
“Of course, this is one of my loudest victories. I knew that the duel would be very difficult, so I just tried to believe in myself the whole time. I like to play in those conditions on the ground in cities that are higher above sea level. I already managed to play three matches in Madrid and I had a lot of self-confidence”, said the winner of the meeting.
Interestingly, T.Monteiro played in the Challenger tournament in Portugal last week, and fell there in the first round.
“Every week you have a new opportunity. I haven’t been playing well in the last few weeks, the Challenger tournaments didn’t work out. However, I worked hard every day and believed in myself, and in the end it paid off,” the Brazilian taught.
S. Tsitsipas was one of the “hottest” representatives of the ATP tour this clay season, having won 10 victories in 11 meetings before this meeting, winning the tournament in Monte Carlo and reaching the final in Barcelona.
In the third round of the competition, T. Monteiro will face the Czech Jiri Lehečka (ATP-31), who defeated the Serbian Hamad Medjedović (ATP-130) 7:5, 6:4.
Australian Open champion Jannik Sinners (ATP-2) started his campaign impressively in the Spanish capital on Saturday afternoon. In the Italian derby, he crushed compatriot Lorenzo Sonego (ATP-52) 6:0, 6:3.
This is the first time in the 22-year-old tennis player’s career that he has been seeded at the Masters tournament. The Italian’s next opponent will be the Australian Jordan Thompson (ATP-33) or the Russian Pavel Kotov (ATP-72).
