Stefanos Tsitsipas is confident that he will be almost fit for this month’s Australian Open after passing his first big test at the ATP Cup in Sydney on Monday.
The world number four noticed some pain during his 6: 7 (5) 6: 3 6: 3 loss to Diego Schwartzman in his first single game since his retirement from the ATP Tour final last year and an elbow operation.
His defeat, despite leading by a set and a break, accelerated a 3-0 defeat for Greece against Argentina. While Tsitsipas is unsure whether he will play in his next game on Wednesday, he sees his chances at the Australian Open more positively from January 17th.
The two-time Melbourne semi-finalist told the tournament’s official website: “It was good to see me at such a level. I didn’t expect it.
“It worked out better than I thought. I was able to hit balls that I was scared of hitting two weeks ago, so I’m going in the right direction.
“It’s getting better and better almost every day. We have a lot of time before the Australian Open starts, and I think if I take the right precautions and follow my doctor’s instructions, I can imagine playing 100 percent at the Australian Open. “
Federico Delbonis defeated Michail Pervolarakis while Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni defeated Markos Kalovelonis and Petros Tsitsipas in Argentina ‘s Group D decision against Poland on Wednesday.
The Poles defeated Georgia 3-0 after Hubert Hurkacz avoided a big surprise against world number 1 Aleksandre Metreveli, a replacement for Georgian number one Nikoloz Basilashvili, and rallied for a 6: 7 (5) 6: 3 6-1 victory.
Kamil Majchrzak defeated Alex Bakshi while Szymon Walkow and Jan Zielinski paired up to defeat Bakshi and Zura Tkemaladze in dead doubles.
Spain scored two of two victories in Group A when they knocked Norway aside 3-0.
Pablo Carreno Busta got Spain off to a successful start by beating world number 345 Viktor Durasovic before Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Pedro Martinez defeated Lukas Hellum-Lilleengen and Andreja Petrovic in doubles.
Chile prevailed 2-1 against Serbia after Tomas Barrios defeated Vera and Alejandro Tabilo Nikola Cacic and Matej Sabanov in the decisive double 6-4, 3-6 10-7.
Filip Krajinovic gave Serbia a start to victory by defeating Tabilo, but Dusan Lajovic had to retire injured in the second duel when he left behind him 4-6 6-4 3-0 against the Chilean number one Cristian Garin 4-6 6-4.
