Sitak and Zelenay beaten in first round at Roland Garros
Artem Sitak’s hopes for a deep run at the French tennis Open have evaporated in the first round in Paris. The New Zealand doubles player and his Slovakian partner Igor Zelenay have been beaten 7-6 (4) 3-6 6-4 by the unseeded Argentine pair of Federico Coria and Diego Schwartzman. Sitak and Zelenay certainly had their chances in the first set and went up an early break at 4-2 only to be broken back for 4-4 and eventually lost the set in a tie break after Sitak and Zelenay had led 4-2 with Schwartzman and Coria winning five straight points to clinch the set.
After hitting back to win the second set Sitak and Zelenay had their opponents under plenty of pressure but couldn’t convert numerous break point opportunities in the decider. Schwartzman came back from 0-40 and 15-40 down to hold. The Argentines eventually closed the match out in 2 hours 23. They won 110 points to 107 which illustrates the closeness of the encounter.