Griekspoor back on clay, to play another day in Marrakech

Tallon Griekspoor was given a stern opening test Thursday as he tried to transport his recent hard-court form to clay at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech.

Despite a mid-match lapse, the Dutchman was successful in ousting former World No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3 in Morocco. Competing as the top seed at an ATP Tour event for just the second time, Griekspoor put together strong bursts in the first-set tie-break and at the beginning of the third set (when he broke in the second game) to earn a two-hour, 24-minute win.

“It’s never easy to get back to the clay. It’s been a while for me,” said Griekspoor. “The Olympics last year was the last time, so quite a while without playing on clay. A very difficult opponent in Pablo, an amazing player. We played once before, which was a brutal five-setter. So I’m happy with the win today and happy to get a chance to play again tomorrow.”

Top seed tested and top seed delivers 😤@Griekii gets past PCB 7-6(1) 3-6 6-3 to make the final eight in Morocco#GrandPrixHassanII pic.twitter.com/gXkpD8l5Vf

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 3, 2025

The 28-year-old’s most recent event prior to Marrakech was the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where he defeated World No. 2 Alexander Zverev en route to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final. The No. 37 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Griekspoor will face a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Mattia Bellucci in the last eight in Marrakech.

The eighth-seeded Bellucci earlier enjoyed a smoother second-round passage than Griekspoor. The 23-year-old, who enjoyed a breakout semi-final run at ATP 500 level in February in Rotterdam, downed qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2, 7-5 after converting four of eight break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Bellucci’s fellow Italian Luciano Darderi enjoyed a confidence-boosting win by defeating Hugo Gaston 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. The World No. 57 was chasing consecutive ATP Tour wins for the first time since he reached the Hamburg quarter-finals last July, and he rallied after a difficult start to improve to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Gaston. Darderi will next take on Vit Kopriva, who defeated the Italian just four days ago in the Naples Challenger final.

The Czech Kopriva scored a dramatic 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory against second seed Lorenzo Sonego. Kopriva led 6-2, 5-1 and held six match points in the second set before the Italian mounted a comeback and forced a decider.

Kopriva, 27, eventually clinched his seventh match point to reach his first tour-level quarter-final since 2021. On a seven-match winning streak across all levels, Kopriva is bound for his Top 100 debut in Monday’s PIF ATP Rankings.