Rotterdam Open: Griekspoor knocks out Hurkacz in epic encounter

Tallon Griekspoor edged out fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) in a mammoth match to move into the last eight of the Rotterdam Open in front of his home crowd.

In a contest dominated by serve, the pair managed to hit 51 aces between them as break point opportunities proved scarce.

Hurkacz, no stranger to tiebreaks, took the opening set through a tight breaker, before the Dutchman hit back in the second via the exact same route and scoreline.

The final set went the same way as the previous two as a tiebreak was again needed to separate the two players.

With the home crowd behind him, it was Griekspoor who had the edge in the most crucial point in the match as he took the final-set tiebreak to earn an impressive victory and knock the higher seed out of this year’s Rotterdam Open.

Griekspoor, ranked No 29, will play the winner of the match between German Jan-Lennard Struff and Finn Emil Ruusuvuori next.

In the previous round of the Rotterdam tournament, the Dutchman edged out Italian Lorenzo Musetti (3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3)).

Hurkacz, ranked No 8, edged out Jiri Lehecka (6-3, 6-7 (9), 7-6 (9)) during the first round of the Rotterdam tournament.

Rotterdam ATP 500, other second-round results (Rotterdam Ahoy, hard, EUR 2.134.985, most recent results first):

• Jan-Lennard Struff vs. Emil Ruusuvuori
• Jannik Sinner vs. Gael Monfils
• Alexander Shevchenko beat Holger Rune (3): 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
• Grigor Dimitrov (6) beat Marton Fucsovics: 6-3, 7-5
• Andrey Rublev (2) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime: 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5
• Alex De Minaur (5) beat David Goffin (Q): 6-3, 6-1
• Milos Raonic beat Alexander Bublik (8): 6-4, 6-4