Griekspoor, Bonzi Reach Maiden Tour Final In Pune

Tallon Griekspoor kept his cool in his maiden ATP Tour semi-final Friday at the Tata Open Maharashtra, where the Dutchman completed a 7-6(4), 6-1 victory against eighth seed Aslan Karatsev.

Griekspoor won a single-season record of eight ATP Challenger Tour titles in 2021, but the 26-year-old had not been past the quarter-finals of a tour-level event prior to this week in India. The Dutchman will take on another first-time finalist, Benjamin Bonzi, in Saturday’s championship match.

“It’s great. It’s something you work for, something you dream of,” said Griekspoor of reaching his first ATP Tour final. “That was a goal coming into this year. To do it in the first week of the year is great, but the tournament is not over, there is one more match left. So [I will] try to keep focusing on that one.”

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED ✅@Griekii is through to a 1st ever @atptour final after a dominant 7-6 6-1 win ????#TataOpenMaharashtra pic.twitter.com/5nwrq2pB7M

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 6, 2023

The World No. 95 produced a high-class serving performance to down the three-time tour-level titlist Karatsev. Griekspoor did not face a break point, sent down 11 aces and won 89 per cent (32/36) of points behind his first delivery.

That aspect of his game helped the Dutchman prevail in the first-set tie-break, which ultimately proved pivotal to his 82-minute victory.

“I think I served really well, played my own games really well,” said Griekspoor after the match. “I think I lost eight points on serve the whole match, so those are stats you can lean on. I think I mixed it up really well for him, using the backhand slice, and a little bit of a heavier forehand.

“That made it tough for him and I played a really good tie-break. He dropped his level a little bit at the beginning of the second and I stayed on top and finished it off really well.”

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Griekspoor’s triumph kept alive the possibility of an all-Dutch championship match in Pune but France’s Bonzi had other ideas. After two tight sets, the 26-year-old found something extra late on to take out second seed Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-1 in the second semi-final of the day.

Unlike Griekspoor, Bonzi had featured in the last four of ATP Tour events before. He fell at the semi-final stage in Marseille (l. to Rublev) and Mallorca (l. to Tsitsipas) in 2022, but a lightning-fast start to the deciding set against Van de Zandschulp ensured he would not suffer the same disappointment in India.

Bonzi was the more dangerous player on return throughout the two-hour, 29-minute battle. He converted four of his 11 break points but was pushed the distance after Van de Zandschulp rallied from 2-4 in the second set to force a tie-break, which the Dutchman won with a single mini-break at 6/5.

Bonzi responded in style, winning the first five games of the third set en route to his 30th tour-level victory. Saturday’s championship match will be his first ATP Tour meeting with Griekspoor and just the pair’s second clash overall, after Bonzi prevailed against the Dutchman in three sets at an ATP Challenger Tour event in France in 2017.