ATP Tournament in Mallorca, Round of 16, Wednesday, 22.06.2022
Does Stefanos Tsitsipas deliver at Wimbledon? At the ATP tournament in Mallorca, the Greek is seeded second and is one of the big favourites for the title for that reason alone. But can slip-ups really be ruled out yet?
After all, he is only known for complete consistency to a limited extent. In his 1st round match, he will face the world number 40 for the third time this year.
Sometimes strong, sometimes okay, sometimes weak – what will we get to see from Stefanos Tsitsipas in Mallorca? The world number six has been weakening a bit in the last few weeks, not getting the big results.
In Halle, his performance was not bad, but he still lost in the round of 16 after three sets against Nick Kyrgios. Before that, in Stuttgart, he also won only one match, losing to Andy Murray.
Does Tsitsipas not know how to play on grass? If you take a look at the figures from Wimbledon, for which he is currently preparing, you can be quite sceptical. After all, he last failed twice in a row in the 1st round in London.
Tsitsipas knows how much is expected of him. And also that his current opponent in Round 1 is no longer an unknown. It is already the third time in 2022 that he will face Ilya Ivashka!
In Rotterdam, the favourite won clearly 6-4, 6-1, later the Greek even reached the final. However, he lost the final against Felix Auger-Aliassime. A little later in Barcelona, he had a little more trouble at 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
The Belarusian can concentrate all his energy on the tournament in Mallorca, because unfortunately he is not allowed to take part in Wimbledon in 2022. Unlike Tsitsipas, he already has his opener on the Spanish island behind him.
6-4, 6-1, he started without any difficulties with this commanding victory against Emil Rusuuvuori. He fended off all three break chances he surrendered, and he will have to be that pressured against Tsitsipas as well.
In Halle, Ivashka had knocked out Jan-Lennard Struff, but was narrowly defeated by Daniil Medvedev a little later. In Hertogenbosch, it was also the Russian who caused his elimination, again after a close result including a tiebreak.
In seven of the last eight tournaments, Ivashka’s eliminations came in three sets, the only outright defeat being a 5-7, 5-7 loss to Joao Sousa. So the Belarusian is certainly a player known for close, intense matches.
My Ivashka Tsitsipas tip
Stefanos Tsitsipas has not always been convincing in recent analyses. In my current tip, the Greek may be favoured, but the fast grass is not his favourite surface.
Ilya Ivashka has attracted attention in Hertogenbosch and Halle, narrowly losing twice to Daniil Medvedev. His results have been close for months, including many tiebreaks. Since Tsitsipas is a strong server, I send the following tip into the race:
We’ll see at least one tiebreak!
