Tsitsipas outlasts Kovacevic as Khachanov cruises at Almaty Open

Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the second round of the Almaty Open on Tuesday with a 7-6 (9), 3-6, 6-3 victory over Aleksandar Kovacevic. The seventh seed recovered from losing the second set to complete his opening-round win at Almaty Arena, according to Field Level Media. Fifth seed Karen Khachanov also advanced, beating Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto in straight sets.

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Tsitsipas needed two hours and one minute to overcome the American. The Kazakhstan Tennis Federation reported that the Greek won 83% of his first-serve points, hit seven aces and committed two double faults. Kovacevic delivered 13 aces and three double faults, but his advantage in aces was not enough to prevent Tsitsipas from taking the deciding set.

The victory came on Tsitsipas' second appearance at the tournament. He reached the final in 2022, when the event was staged in Astana. Now 28, the former world number three entered this edition ranked 39th, the federation said. His career record includes 13 ATP Tour singles titles, three Masters 1000 trophies in Monte Carlo and two Grand Slam singles finals.

Tsitsipas will face home player Mikhail Kukushkin for a quarter-final place. The 38-year-old Kazakh secured his own second-round berth by beating another Greek player, Stefanos Sakellaridis, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3). Both men therefore came through opening matches featuring tie-breaks, although Kukushkin completed his victory without needing a third set.

Khachanov took 75 minutes to defeat Sakamoto 6-2, 6-4, Field Level Media reported. He did not face a break point and lost only five points across nine service games, winning 28 of 30 points behind his first serve. Khachanov finished with nine aces to Sakamoto's five and 22 winners against 17, while committing six unforced errors to the qualifier's 33.

Elsewhere in Almaty, Terence Atmane beat Rinky Hijikata 7-6 (5), 6-2, while Fabian Marozsan defeated Kazakhstan qualifier Timofey Skatov 7-5, 7-6 (4), according to Field Level Media. Sho Shimabukuro recovered from losing the opening set to overcome Roman Safiullin 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, joining Tuesday's first-round winners at the ATP 250 event.