John Peers and Luke Saville claimed a decisive match tie-break beating Stefanos Tsitsipas and Pervolarakis 6-3 4-6 10-5 in the doubles match to give Australia its first first win at the 2021 ATP Cup on Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
John Millman beat Pervolarakis 6-2 6-3 in 1 hour and 21 minutes in the opening singles match before Stefabos Tsitsipas saved two set points in his 6-3 7-5 win over Alex De Minaur in the tie-break of the tie-break of the second set.
In the first singles match Millman hit 14 winners to 14 unforced errors and converted three of his eight break points. The Australian player forced an error from Pervolarakis at the net in the fourth game to get the first break. He closed out the first set with a double break at 5-2. Millman did not drop a point on serve in the second set and opened up a 3-1 lead with a break.
Millman saved two break points, as he was serving for the match at 5-3, and hit a service winner to close out the match.
Stefanos Tsitsipas kept Greek hopes alive with a 6-3 7-5 win over Alex De Minaur in the second singles match. The 2019 ATP Finals champion beat his Australian rival for the fourth time in as many matches after winning his previous three matches in Tokyo Round of 16, in the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan in 2018 and in Paris Bercy Round of 16 in 2019.
Tsitsipas held serve at love in the first game with a service winner and broke De Minaur after De Minaur made a forehand error.
Tsitsipas made a forehand error in the fifth game to drop serve, but he broke again to build up a 4-2 lead. The Greek player served for the set at 5-3 and hit a service winner to close out the set 6-3.
Both players went on serve in the first eight games of the second set. De Minaur fended off a break point at 4-4. Tsitsipas saved two set points, as he was serving at 4-5, before breaking serve to take a 6-5 lead. He closed ouut the match with an ace to force the tie to the Match tie-break.
“The win counts very much, and I think it was a very good start for me playing the ATP Cup. I managed to stay calm and resilient when I had to and took my chances at the ver end of the second set, which was very important”, said Tsitsipas.
John Peers and Luke Saville edged Stefanos Tsitsipas and Michail Pervolarakis 6-3 4-6 10-5 to seal the win for Australia. Peers and Saville broke twice and hit 16 winners in the 29-minute first set. The Greek team broke in the first game of the second set, when Peers made two double faults. Peers rallied from 0-40, saving four break points to hold serve. Tsitsitsipas hit groundstroke winners to send the tie to a Match tie-break. Peers and Saville claimed the tie-break 10-5.
“It was a massive privilege and honour to put on the green and gold. It’s my first time since under 16s, we brought a lot of energy and I have been working very hard over the past few months”, said Saville.
