Rising Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas ready to shine on Barcelona clay

Sky Sports Arena, 10am Wednesday

Stefanos Tsitsipas is progressing quickly on the ATP World Tour, rising to number 63 in the rankings, and the talented Greek teenager has a big chance of advancing past Diego Schwartzman in the second round of the Barcelona Open, writes Joe Champion.

Tsitsipas eased past another youngster on Monday by defeating Corentin Moutet 6-4 6-1 and, while Schwartzman will represent a tougher test, the Athenian has the ability to raise his game in Catalonia.

Schwartzman, a clay champion as recently as February in Brazil, has struggled since that triumph, winning just twice in three tournaments in North America, and he was comfortably beaten by Richard Gasquet in Monte Carlo last week.

Gasquet and Tsitsipas are different players but there are some similarities in their games, most notably the rarely-sighted single-handed backhand that can perplex opponents.

Tsitsipas beat fellow young gun Denis Shapovalov in Monte Carlo before finding David Goffin too strong but he continues to improve and it won’t be long before he’s a genuine contender in bigger tournaments.

The clash of the day in the WTA Porsche Grand Prix is the Fed Cup rematch between Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber. Kvitova beat the two-time Grand Slam champion 6-2 6-2 at the same venue on Sunday and is 8-15 for a repeat on the German clay.

Recommendation
S Tsitsipas
2pts 6-4 general

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on FacebookRacingPostSport