Top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas clinched his second ATP Tour singles title with a
7-5 7-6(5) victory over Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin at the Marseille Open.
Tsitsipas, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals last month, battled hard to clinch victory over the 31-year-old Kukushkin in a little under two hours.
The 20-year-old, who did not drop a set in the entire tournament, fired 14 aces and won 86 percent of his first-serve points.
“Winning titles is the thing that I am working for. It’s the biggest satisfaction and the biggest joy in tennis,” Tsitsipas said, as quoted by the ATP Tour website.
“There was a lot of stress this week because I knew I had to face some good opponents. I’m happy that I got through that stress and played the game that I was supposed to play. “I lost the spark (after the Australian Open) and I was frustrated because it felt like I couldn’t find it again.
This week, I can say I am really happy because I felt this hunger back again.”