Stefanos Tsitsipas has successfully managed to defend his ATP Masters 1000 title as the Greece international defeated Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina  6-3, 7-6(3) to win his second ATP Masters 1000 crown on Sunday.

The Greek, who made his fourth final appearance at this level, struck his forehand shots with some ridiculous pace and accuracy and managed to recover from failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set to capture his first silverware of the season.

His one hour and 34 minutes of extreme effort resulted him in becoming the sixth player to win back-to-back Monte Carlo titles. Tsitsipas has now joined the elite list of winners which include Rafael Nadal (2005-12, 2016-18), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2002-03), Thomas Muster (1995-96), Bjorn Borg (1979-1980) and Ilie Nastase (1971-1973).

It was a standout week of tennis for the Greek tennis star as he produced some explosive and highly skilled performances recently in order to lift his first title of the season.

Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame 2019 titlist Fabio Fognini, Laslo Djere and second seed Alexander Zverev in straight sets, but survived a major scare as he saw himself coming back from a 0-4 deficit in the third set of the quarter-finals against Diego Schwartzman.

The 23-year-old, who defeated Andrey Rublev in the championship match last season in Monte Carlo, will climb to second place in the ATP Race To Turin on Monday. The Greek has now won a total of eight tour-level trophies, with four coming on clay.

“I am very proud of myself,” Tsitsipas said in his post match interview. “Things weren’t going well at one point, but I managed to stay composed to finish the match off. I am really proud with the belief I put in my game. Sometimes you doubt yourself, but it is always important to keep your head high,” he said as quoted by the ATP Tour.

“He fought in moments I didn’t expect him to fight,” he said. “He can hit incredible winners out of nowhere and play unpredictably. But I was able to minimize that. I knew he would be a dangerous opponent but that is a great win for me. I think we will see great results from him in the future.”

(Inputs from IANS)