ATP Tour

Griekspoor saves 5 MPs, averts Pellegrino scare in Bastad

Tallon Griekspoor survived an early scare in his campaign at the Nordea Open in Bastad, where he saved five match points to defeat Italian qualifier Andrea Pellegrino on Wednesday afternoon.

The second-seeded Dutchman struggled to cope with Pellegrino’s variety and touch for much of their second-round clash, but ultimately found a late spark to triumph 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3. Griekspoor, who is now 6-1 in opening-round matches on clay this year, reeled off four straight points from 3/6 in the second set tie-break and pulled clear in the decider to seal a two-hour, 11-minute win.

“An unbelievably tough match, he really made it difficult for me,” said Griekspoor, who is into his 23rd ATP Tour quarter-final. “He probably deserved the win in the second set, I got a little bit lucky with the match points. He didn’t really look too confident on those points, I just tried to make him play. I did need a bit of luck, because he was the better player.”

Griekspoor, who captured his third ATP Tour title on the Mallorca grass last month, set a quarter-final meeting with countryman Jesper de Jong. The Dutchman defeated eighth seed Vit Kopriva 7-6(3), 7-5 on Wednesday morning and will take a 1-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head lead into his meeting Griekspoor, whom he defeated in Montpellier in February.

“We played earlier this year and I lost, so I’m definitely looking forward to some revenge there,” said Griekspoor, who won 16 of 19 net points against Pellegrino, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

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Earlier, Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic continued his run in Sweden by overcoming Elmer Moller 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours, 41 minutes. Misolic, who is up six spots to a career-high No. 99 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, will take on third seed Nuno Borges for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Botic van de Zandschulp ended Swedish wild card Mikael Ymer’s campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 victory and, by joining Griekspoor and De Jong, he ensured it was the first time since Rotterdam 2023 that three Dutchmen reached the second round of the same ATP Tour event.

After recording his second ATP Tour win on clay this year, Van de Zandschulp will next face fifth seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli, who moved past Cristian Garin 6-4, 6-4.

Luciano Darderi blitzed the last remaining Swede in the draw, Elias Ymer, 6-2, 6-2 to book his spot in a fourth clay-court quarter-final of 2025. The 23-year-old Italian, who triumphed in Marrakech earlier this year, holds a perfect 15-0 record on the surface against players outside the Top 100.

Darderi will face fourth seed Sebastian Baez for a place in the last four after the Argentine rallied past #NextGenATP qualifier Nicolai Budkov Kjaer 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in two hours, five minutes.