Tsitsipas hangs on in Antwerp

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/stefanos-tsitsipas/te51/overview'Stefanos Tsitsipas/a was forced to resort to defence mode Thursday in order to secure a thrilling opening-round win at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/antwerp/7485/overview'European Open/a./p

pThe second seed was on the brink of defeat, but showcased his resilience to defeat Brazilian qualifier a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thiago-seyboth-wild/sx91/overview'Thiago Seyboth Wild/a 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5. Tsitsipas fended off three break points in the 11th game of the decider before finding a crucial break of his own to seal victory in two hours, 26 minutes./p

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pldquo;It was exhausting out here having to stay in the match,rdquo; said Tsitsipas, who improved to 40-19 on the season. ldquo;The comeback was crazy. When he was up in the score, I managed to stay in the points and defend well./p

pldquo;It was all psychological at the end, I managed my nerves pretty well. I donrsquo;t usually like to build my game around defensive shots, but I had to fight, I had to do anything within my artillery to make it work.rdquo;nbsp;/p

pTsitsipas set up a quarter-final clash with fifth seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jiri-lehecka/l0bv/overview'Jiri Lehecka/a, who earlier eased past a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniel-altmaier/ae14/overview'Daniel Altmaier/a 6-4, 6-3 in one hour, 13 minutes. The Czech was imperious on serve throughout the contest, during which he won 91 per cent (30/33) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats./p

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/zizou-bergs/bu13/overview'Zizou Bergs/a brought the day to a close with a rousing win over fourth seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sebastian-baez/b0bi/overview'Sebastian Baez/a to the delight of the home crowd. With his 6-3, 6-4 triumph, the 25-year-old became just the third Belgian to reach the quarter-finals in Antwerp after a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/david-goffin/gb88/overview'David Goffin/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ruben-bemelmans/be54/overview'Ruben Bemelmans/a./p

pBergs will next face a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/marcos-giron/gc88/overview'Marcos Giron/a, who earlier produced a gutsy showing to edge past a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-rinderknech/rc91/overview'Arthur Rinderknech/a 7-6(6), 7-6(4) and reach his personal-best sixth quarter-final of the season. The eighth seed was forced to dig deep but found some steely tennis when necessary to advance in Antwerp./p

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