Tallon Griekspoor broke out of a recent cold stretch with a stunning 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4 upset of No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev in second-round action at the National Bank Open in Montreal on Wednesday.
Griekspoor, who ranks 69th in the ATP world rankings, entered having won just one of his last eight tour-level matches before securing his third career top-five win with the comeback defeat of the German, who ranks second in the world and was competing in his first match since his loss to Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final.
“This is one of the most special (wins) I have had,” Griekspoor said in his on-court interview. “I have had a very tough season, which is not easy. I have been very close to throwing the towel a couple of times. But I have been working harder and harder lately and reached quite a good level in training in the past couple of weeks. I felt like it was just a matter of time. This one is special.”
The Dutch competitor won the match behind a strong showing at the net (won 17 of 18 net points) and by being opportunistic on Zverev’s second serve, with him winning just 12 of 29 second-serve points (41.4%). Griekspoor faced just one break point while Zverev faced nine, saving five of them.
Zverev was far from the only seeded competitor to lose on Wednesday. The top side of the bracket in particular was scattered with upsets, with No. 7 Taylor Fritz losing his first match since winning the Mubadala DC Open title on Monday, falling 7-5, 6-3 to Argentina’s Thiago Agustin Tirante.
“I think today I played a really good level to beat Taylor in my first match against him,” Tirante said. “I think I enjoyed the moment and I will keep improving. I did not have the good sensation yesterday but today was another moment and I think I did a really good match today.”
A trio of seeded Russians in No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, No. 10 Andrey Rublev and No. 21 Karen Khachanov were all ousted on Wednesday. So were No. 6 Flavio Cobolli of Italy, No. 14 Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, Argentine seeds Francisco Cerundolo (No. 16) and Tomas Martin Etcheverry (No. 26), No. 24 Ugo Humbert of France, No. 25 Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, No. 29 Ignacio Buse of Peru and No. 32 Belgian Raphael Collignon.
Second-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime was forced to withdraw ahead of his opening match due to a back injury. His replacement in the draw, Portugal’s Jaime Faria, lost 7-6 (2), 6-2 to France’s Titouan Droguet.
No. 3 seed Alex de Minaur had no similar trouble, sweeping fellow Aussie James Duckworth 6-2, 7-6 (6) to set up a match with Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who knocked off Buse.
No. 5 Ben Shelton, the defending champion in Montreal, began his defense with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of fellow American Jenson Brooksby. No. 9 Casper Ruud of Norway easily disposed of Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo with a 6-1, 6-2 win.
In late-night action, a pair of seeded Americans advanced with wins over French opponents. No. 12 Learner Tien outlasted Gael Monfils 6-3, 0-6, 6-3, and No. 17 Tommy Paul downed Valentin Royer 6-4, 7-6 (5).
–Field Level Media
