Zverev advances to Roland Garros QFs after Griekspoor retires

Alexander Zverev advanced to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the seventh time in eight years on Monday, when Tallon Griekspoor was forced to retire during the second set due to an abdominal injury.

The German Zverev led the Dutchman 6-4, 3-0 before Griekspoor called the physio and then ended proceedings after 54 minutes. The World No. 35 had led Zverev 3-0 in the first set but lacked power during the clash on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

"Unfortunately, this morning and in the warmup with the last couple of serves that I hit, I pulled my abdominal, which made me not [able to] serve full and not able to compete the way I would like," Griekspoor said.

The Dutchman continued: "I [had] a scan before the match, which showed nothing yet, but that's probably because it's too quick after it happened. They said it needs a couple of hours to show something.

"I tried everything with the warmup. [I] felt actually okay in the first set even though I didn't serve harder than 180 [km/h] and went all the way down to 150 [km/h] at some point. I tried to go out there. Probably one of the biggest matches of my life against an opponent that I like to play on a beautiful court. So I just wanted to give it a shot, but I realised pretty early that it was not going to be my day."

Zverev advances after Griekspoor retires…@rolandgarros #rolandgarros pic.twitter.com/pumxDqfW9Z

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Zverev and Griekspoor were renewing their rivalry and meeting for the third time this year, having produced classic encounters in Indian Wells and Munich.

At the ATP Masters 1000 event in California, Griekspoor earned the biggest win of his career when he upset Zverev to earn a battling 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) victory on his sixth match point. Zverev then gained his revenge, clinching an equally tense 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-4 victory on home soil Munich, where he went on to win the title. After seven meetings since March of 2024, the German leads the overall Lexus ATP Head2Head series 8-2.

Zverev was one set away from lifting his maiden major trophy in Paris last year before eventually falling to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets in the title match. The 28-year-old arrived in the French capital off the back of a fourth-round defeat in Madrid, a quarter-final exit in Rome and a second-round loss in Hamburg.

However, the No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings has looked in control through his opening four matches in Paris, where he has dispatched #NextGenATP American Learner Tien, Dutchman Jesper de Jong and Italian Flavio Cobolli. Seeking his first major, Zverev will take on Novak Djokovic or Cameron Norrie in the quarter-finals. Djokovic leads Zverev 8-5 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series, while the German holds a perfect 6-0 record against Norrie.

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Griekspoor was trying to reach the quarter-finals at a major for the first time. Last week, the 28-year-old defeated Marcos Giron and Gabriel Diallo in four sets and overcame Ethan Quinn in a three-hour, 16-minute five-setter.