2024 Olympic Games
Paris Olympics
Roland Garros
Selected 3rd round matches 31 July
Stefanos Tsitsipas 27/100 | Sebastian Baez 26/10
This has been a slightly bittersweet week for Tsitsipas. He and brother Petros were eliminated in the first round of the doubles event. And his powerhouse mixed doubles partnership with Maria Sakkari suffered the same fate yesterday.
But he has successfully navigated his way into the final 16 of the singles and he will be feeling really confident of getting himself into a medal position.
He was a bit wobbly in his opener, requiring three sets to down a plucky Bergs. But he looked back to his best against a totally outclassed Dan Evans, needing just 57 minutes to win 6-1, 6-2. It was an exceptional display of clay-court shot-making that included 24 winners and just nine unforced errors.
Tsitsipas has been one of the most consistent clay-court players for some time, reaching the quarterfinal stage or better at the French Open in four of the last five seasons (finishing runner-up in 2021). He won his 3rd Monte-Carlos Masters earlier this season and also finished runner-up in Barcelona.
Sebastian Baez has really carved a nice little niche for himself over the last few years. The 23-year-old Argentine first caught the eye on the Challenger circuit, winning an incredible six clay-court titles in 2021. A prototypical clay-court specialist, Baez has reached a host of minor finals over the last few years. In fact, he has managed to reach eight finals since 2022 (seven of which came on clay).
He has managed to become a bit of a giant in the ‘minor’ clay-court universe, repeatedly collecting rankings points during the Golden Swing and lesser European clay-court events.
He was particularly impressive during this year’s Golden Swing, winning back-to-back titles in Rio and Chile (the Rio title being his maiden ATP 500 win). But he has never gone beyond the fourth round of a Masters 1000 event and was eliminated in the second round of this year’s French Open.
Can he truly elevate his performance on the biggest stage? He eased past Monterio in his opener but he absolutely struggled against Benjamin Hassan in his 2nd round match, needing a third-set tiebreak to sneak past the Lebanese underdog.
The Verdict: Tsitsipas to win in three at 26/10
Tsitsipas leads the head-to-head 2-0, winning their most recent meeting in Madrid last year. Baez won a set in both of those matches and that leads me to believe he is capable of nicking one here.
Baez is a true clay-court creature, using his excellent movement and strong forehand to wear opponents down. Tsitsipas has shown vulnerability against grinders before and this could be tighter than it looks on paper. Still, the Greek should be able to clinch the match in three.