Tsitsipas thrashes Simon to canter into second round

[February 09, 2021]    MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas served up a tennis masterclass to veteran Frenchman Gilles Simon during a 6-1 6-2 6-1 thrashing to open his Australian Open campaign on Tuesday.

Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in action during his first round match against France's Gilles Simon REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake

The 2019 Melbourne Park semi-finalist barely broke sweat during the final match on Rod Laver Arena and did not face a break point against the 36-year-old Simon, who is ranked 66th in the world.

In his first meeting with the former world number six, Tsitsipas broke Simon's serve twice in the first two sets and a further three times to ease into the second round.

"I don't know what to say. I obviously wasn't expecting it to come so easy," Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. "I was surprised.

"It was a great match from my side. I think I played a spectacular match from the beginning to the end."

The Greek will next meet Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis, who breezed past Kwon Soon-woo of South Korea 6-4 6-1 6-1.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ed Osmond)

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