According to "Varzesh3", Tallon Griekspoor, the 30-year-old Dutch star, on Sunday night in the final of the 250-point Brussels tournament, once again showed that to defeat him, winning one set is not enough. The world number 60 of tennis, who had surrendered the first set against Jan-Lennard Struff, with a stubborn display turned over the page of the match and defeated his German opponent with the results 4 to 6, 6 to 3 and 6 to 4, so that after two hours and two minutes of breathtaking struggle, he obtained the first trophy of the season and the fourth championship title of his professional career on the ATP Tour.
Griekspoor's championship in Brussels was the fruit of three matches and three consecutive comebacks. An event that turned this week into one of the most memorable stretches of his professional career. The Dutch star first in the quarterfinals, after surrendering the first set against Jiri Lehecka, the second seed of the championship, returned to the match and defeated him. Then in the semifinals he repeated this same scenario against Francisco Cerundolo, the third seed of the tournament, and finally in the final as well, by passing Struff, he showed that even falling behind in the most sensitive moments cannot take him off the path of victory.
The Brussels final for Griekspoor began with defeat in the first set, but the Dutch star's answer to this failure was decisive and calculated. He in the second set, with powerful serves and increasing the pressure on the opponent, took control of the match into his hands and, without even putting one break point opportunity at Struff's disposal, won with the result 6 to 3. The work was dragged to the third set; where the two players advanced shoulder to shoulder to the tie of 4 to 4, but right at the most sensitive moment, Griekspoor made the utmost use of the German opponent's slip and, by breaking his serve, struck the determining blow.
Griekspoor then, by holding his own service game, finished the work and did not allow Struff to find an opportunity to compensate. The Dutch star, who was placed against one of the powerful servers of the tournament, did not come short in this part either; he registered 19 direct point-scoring serves, while Struff obtained 17 aces. Griekspoor also, by earning 47 points of the 56 points behind the first serve, registered the stunning statistic of 84 percent success, so that the power of his serves became one of the most important factors of victory in the final.
The Dutch champion, after the end of the match, pointing to the difficulty of this battle, said: It was another big battle; a really tough and breathtaking match. We have played against each other a few times before and all our encounters have been all-out battles that could have ended in favor of either of us. I really don't know how I won today! I just tried to stay in the match and in the final moments I was able to present a good game.
This victory was Griekspoor's fourth win in four head-to-head confrontations with Struff, so that the Dutch star remains undefeated against the German opponent. He, who had last become champion in June of last year in Mallorca, has now, by capturing Brussels, seized the fourth trophy of his professional career and, after months of waiting, has once again registered his name in the list of champions of the ATP Tour.
On the opposite side, the 36-year-old Struff, who was striving to earn the second trophy of his professional career, was kept back from reaching his goal right at the last step. The German star, on the path to the final, had first defeated Zizou Bergs, the sixth seed of the championship, and then, by pushing aside Arthur Fils, the first seed of the tournament, had registered another surprise. He hoped that by capturing the Brussels trophy, after Novak Djokovic who became champion earlier this month in Beijing, he would become the second-oldest champion of the ATP season; but Griekspoor did not allow this brilliant week to be accompanied by a happy ending for the German opponent.
Brussels in the end witnessed the championship of a player who began three consecutive matches with defeat in the first set, but each time found a way to return. Griekspoor, in a week in which he was placed under pressure many times, by keeping concentration and fighting spirit until the last point, showed that the result of a match is not always determined in the first set.
Source: Varzesh3
