ATP Tour

Griekspoor shocks World No. 3 Zverev in Montreal

Tallon Griekspoor recorded the biggest win of his season on Wednesday at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Montreal, where he stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4 to earn his third Top-5 victory.

The Dutchman arrived in Canada having triumphed in just one of his past eight tour-level matches. However, the former World No. 21, currently at No. 69 in the PIF ATP Rankings, has rediscovered his best level at the ATP Masters 1000 event to reach the third round.

In an impressive display against Zverev, the 30-year-old struck 20 winners off the forehand and was very effective when moving forward, winning 17 of 18 points when up at net. In a nervy ending, the Dutchman then recovered from squandering a break advantage in the third set to triumph, backing up his first-round victory against Lorenzo Sonego.

"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, especially against a player like Sascha."

Griekspoor has now notched three wins against Zverev but trails the German 3-9 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Griekspoor raised his fist to his team after sealing victory on his first match point and will next face Matteo Arnaldi or Fabian Marozsan.

In a tense third set, Griekspoor led 4-2 but was pegged back to 4-4. However, he stayed calm to break Zverev's serve again and then advance on his first match point after two hours and 33 minutes. The three-time tour-level titlist has lost a number of close matches against the World No. 3 in the past, so he was pleased to get over the line.

"If you know the history I have had with him, I have thrown away a couple of breaks I have had in the third or fifth, so I have wasted a couple of opportunities I have had against him," Griekspoor said. "Without the guys in the box, I probably would have lost this one. They kept me there, stayed with me and helped me through."

Zverev was competing for the first time since he advanced to the final at Wimbledon last month.

Did You Know?
Six of the Top-10 seeds are already out in Montreal. Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Taylor Fritz and Andrey Rublev all lost their opening matches, while Felix Auger-Aliassime was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. The draw has now opened opportunities for #NextGenATP stars Rafael Jodar and Joao Fonseca.