Tallon Griekspoor recorded the biggest win of his season on Wednesday at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Montreal, where he stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4 to earn his third Top-5 victory.
The Dutchman arrived in Canada having triumphed in just one of his past eight tour-level matches. However, the former World No. 21, currently at No. 69 in the PIF ATP Rankings, has rediscovered his best level at the ATP Masters 1000 event to reach the third round.
In an impressive display against Zverev, the 30-year-old struck 20 winners off the forehand and was very effective when moving forward, winning 17 of 18 points when up at net. In a nervy ending, the Dutchman then recovered from squandering a break advantage in the third set to triumph, backing up his first-round victory against Lorenzo Sonego.
“This is one of the most special [wins] I have had,” Griekspoor said in his on-court interview. “I have had a very tough season, which is not easy. I have been very close to throwing the towel a couple of times. But I have been working harder and harder lately and reached quite a good level in training in the past couple of weeks. I felt like it was just a matter of time. This one is special, especially against a player like Sascha.”