Tennis Tennis Dubai Tennis Championships: Tired Tsitsipas starts with win Stefanos Tsitsipas cruised to a first-round victory in 94 minutes but then complained that the match had been more of a struggle than it looked. AFP Dubai 26 February, 2020 00:59 IST Stefanos Tsitsipas (in frame) will next play Alexander Bublik next. - TWITTER(@DDFTENNIS) AFP Dubai 26 February, 2020 00:59 IST Stefanos Tsitsipas began the Dubai Championships with a 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 victory over Pablo Carreno Busta on Tuesday just two days after winning the Marseille title.The Greek cruised to a first-round victory in 94 minutes but then complained that the match had been more of a struggle than it looked.“I was tired,” said the world number six who beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in Marseille on Sunday. “I came into the match tired. I was upset with myself a little bit, but I realised I have to save that energy. The physical part was difficult for me.ALSO READ| Dubai Tennis C'ships: Leander in quarterfinals, Prajnesh bows out “I tried to stay calm and not complain too much because I would definitely need that energy for later on. I think I focused on my breathing, constructing the points, staying in the point, trying to make things happen from my backhand side.”Carreno Busta broke early in the first set but Tsitsipas forced a tiebreaker which he won comfortably. He rode that momentum to a blistering second set sweep.“I'm not pushing myself to the limits like I did last year,” said Tsitsipas. “I'm trying to be smarter in the way I handle certain situations and moments in the match.”Tsitsipas, the losing finalist here a year ago to Roger Federer, will next play Alexander Bublik after the Kazakh beat Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 6-2, 7-5.ALSO READ| Dubai Tennis Championships: Benoit Paire outlasts Marin Cilic Fourth seeded Italian Fabio Fognini, making his Dubai debut, was knocked out after nearly two and three-quarter hours by Dan Evans.The Briton sealed a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory on his sixth match point after an eight-minute final game which ended as a return on the Fognini baseline was called good by the Hawk-Eye system.“It's difficult to play Fabio, he's such a class player,” Evans said of the world number 11. “It felt like he was on top forever really, I was just hanging in.” This was the first time Dan Evans (in frame) and Fabio Fognini played each other on the ATP Tour. - TWITTER(@DDFTENNIS) Other Tuesday winners included qualifiers Dennis Novak of Austria and Japan's Yasutaka Uchiyama.Filip Krajinovic advanced past Joao Sousa with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 comeback. Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka, who lost the Delray Beach final in Florida on Sunday, rushed to the Gulf only to go down 7-5, 6-2 to France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round. Read more stories on Tennis. For more updates, follow Sportstar on :