Tipsarevic: I’m mentally stronger than before

 

Originally published on: 26/04/13 00:00

After a promising start to the season, which saw him win in Chennai and reach the second week at the Australian Open, Tipsarevic struggled with his form, exiting five of the next six tournaments he played in the opening round. His upset loss to Grigor Dimitrov in Monte-Carlo, his fifth defeat to a player outside the top 30 this season, prompted the Serb to announce he was taking a few days off to “clear” his mind.

But now the 28-year-old is back in action at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest, and after an opening round victory over Saniago Giraldo the top seed is looking ahead rather than back.

“I came here to try and win the tournament, even though it's a very tough field,” said Tipsarevic, who holds a 10-7 record this year. “I am fit, I am ready, I am mentally stronger than before and I'm going to try and go all the way."_ь

Next up for Tipsarevic is Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who has won back-to-back three set matches against Horacio Zeballos and Sergiy Stakhovsky respectively.

Elsewhere in the draw three-time champion Gilles Simon took three sets to get past Jarkko Nieminen, who upset Juan Martin del Potro in Monte-Carlo last week, and the Frenchman will now face Daniel Brands in the quarter-final after the German saw off Gael Monfils 7-6 2-0 (RET). Home-favourite Vicotor Hanescu has also looked impressive, knocking out fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets while Lukas Rosol, no stranger to upsets, beat No.3 seed Andreas Seppi.

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