Panagiotis Gionis suffered defeat in Beijing, for China Smash 2024. In the 1st qualifying round of the singles, he lost 3-1 sets to the French Thibaut Poret and was eliminated from the rest. It was his first official game since Paris 2024.
Pore is number 14 on the qualifying board. Gionis was 23 and the two met for the first time. The Greek ace went through his game after the middle of the 1st set, mainly with his serve and the forehand created a difference and gained the lead.
In the 2nd set he was losing 5-2 and managed to overcome with 7-6. Pore managed his nerves by taking a time-out and in the ambivalent “counter” that followed, he was firm on his balls.
In the crucial 3rd set, Gionis found himself 6-3 ahead and saw his opponent take six consecutive points for 6-9. There it was his turn to go on a run and level at 9-9, but the Frenchman was able to capitalize on his serve to make it 2-1.
The 4th set initially went point to point and our champion used a timeout when Pore took a 5-4 lead. The Frenchman continued to be very good in forehand to forehand attacks, Gionis made some errors in defenses and the defeat came in 3-1 sets (11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 7-11)
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