Alexander Zverev crashed out in his opening match at Indian Wells on Thursday. After serving for the match against Tallon Griekspoor in set two, the top seed suffered a huge collapse and was dragged into a decider where Griekspoor came out on top, 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(4).
Currently ranked at a career-high of No. 2 in the world, Zverev was the top seed in the absence of world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who is serving a three-month suspension. Zverev has a shot at reaching the top of the rankings in Sinner’s absence, but his upset loss won’t help his chances.
Zverev looked to be on his way to the third round after he recovered from a deficit in the second set. From 1-4 down, the German stormed back to lead by a set and 6-5 with the match on his racket.
But Griekspoor broke back to keep himself alive and took the second set in a tiebreak, forcing a decider. It was a close encounter, with the No. 1 seed under a lot of pressure at the tail end of the match, facing break points.
The world No. 43 finally converted one at 5-5 in the decider and had the chance to serve for the match. Like Zverev, he couldn’t close it out. The German saved five match points to force a tiebreak.
But Griekspoor recovered and converted his sixth match point in the breaker after three hours and six minutes. “Finally,” Griekspoor wrote on the camera, a jibe at his opportunities to close out the match.
The Dutchman was delighted after earning the first top-five win of his career, especially given his history with Zverev. “I mean, especially beating Sascha, it was such a mental thing,” Griekspoor said.
“I lost to him five times last year, had absolute heartbreak at Roland Garros where I was a double break [up] in the fifth. I played so many battles against him, had chances in all of them, and they all went his way.
“So I’m incredibly proud of myself from this performance today and to finally get it over the line.
“I had some ankle problems as well from the first match, I didn’t know how I was going to be today. I felt it was pretty warm as well, over three hours. Proud of myself, proud of the mental and physical performance today.”
Griekspoor also explained that a change in mentality helped him get over the line – even if he missed a handful of match points. He added: “I mean, I just kept working, little change in the team, new coach, just [taught] myself to go for it.
“Even though today, the first match points I missed, at least I went for it. They were not the greatest shots, not my best shots, but at least I went for it.
“I told myself, ‘If I’m going to lose matches, I’m going to go it, I’m going to miss balls’. So very happy today that it goes my way.”
With world No. 1 Sinner suspended for three months and set to return on May 4, Zverev has a good opportunity to reach the top of the rankings for the first time in his career.
When Sinner returns to competition in May, he will have 9,730 ranking points. Zverev currently has 8,135 and will be hoping to add to his tally. However, he’s already failed to defend 200 points from reaching the Indian Wells quarter-final last year.
Since the Italian’s suspension was announced in mid-February, Zverev has struggled to gain extra points and suffered several surprising early exits. He lost in the quarter-finals of the clay events in Argentina and Rio, then crashed out in the last 16 at the Mexican Open.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk