Madrid: Pavlos Tsitsipas One Step Away from the Main Draw | Tennis24

Pavlos Tsitsipas started his campaign in the best possible way at the $15,000 ITF tournament which began last Saturday in Chamartín, Madrid. The 19-year-old Greek, ranked No. 1055 in the world, secured two victories in the qualifying rounds and now needs just one more to reach the main draw.

Tsitsipas, seeded No. 4 in qualifying, began his run on Sunday evening, defeating 18-year-old Spaniard and world No. 2530, Hugo Garcia Gomez, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the second qualifying round.

Less than 24 hours later, Tsitsipas returned to the court to face 23-year-old Spaniard Mikel Martinez, winning this time 6-4, 7-6(5) after one hour and 39 minutes.

In a very close match, where Tsitsipas had just three more winners (78-75), Martinez responded to the Greek's initial breaks in both sets (1-0, 3-2), leveling at 2-2 and 3-3. However, he couldn't repeat the feat after Tsitsipas's third break, which gave him a 5-4 lead. Tsitsipas then closed out the first set 6-4.

In the second set, it was the Spaniard's turn to start with a break (0-2). However, Tsitsipas reacted superbly, winning four consecutive games to take a 4-2 and then a 5-3 lead. Martinez managed to break back, tying the set at 5-5, forcing a tie-break. There, Tsitsipas came back from 3-5 down, winning four straight points to seal his second victory in the tournament and move within one win of the main draw.

In the final qualifying round, Tsitsipas will play another Spaniard, 18-year-old Mateo Luis Sarmiento Alvarez, who defeated Romanian Teodor Matei Ene 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 35 minutes.