Alexander Zverev battled past Tallon Griekspoor 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 to reach the semifinal at the BMW Open in Munich.
Zverev and Griekspoor played a neck-to-neck match in the first set which went on serve with no breaks of serve. Zverev earned the only two break points in the eleventh game, but Griekspoor held on his serve. A tie-break was needed to determine the set winner for the fourth time in Griekspoor’s last five matches. Zverev earned the first mini-break in tie-break, but Griekspoor pulled back on serve on the second point. Both players traded two further mini-breaks. Griekspoor converted his second set point with a second straight mini-break to close out the tie-break 8-6.
Griekspoor broke Zverev’s first service game and held serve to take a 2-0 lead. The Dutchman went up 30-0 in Zverev’s service game, but he missed an easy return. Griekspoor served for the match at 5-4, but Zverev broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5 forcing the match to the tie-break. Zverev earned four mini-breaks on each of Griekspoor’s service games to win the tie-break 7-3 forcing the match to the decisive set.
Griekspoor went up a 40-0 lead in the fourth game of the third set, but he was not able to convert any of his three break points. Zverev got back to 40-40 before Griekspoor earned one more break chance. Zverev won a marathon game to hold serve after five deuces. Zverev broke serve at 15 in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. Griekspoor went up a 30-0 lead in the next game, but Zverev held on his serve for 5-3. The German player went up a 40-15 in the ninth game, but he was not able to convert on two match points, as Griekspoor came back to deuce twice. Zverev earned a third match point after Griekspoor made a double fault, but the Dutchman saved it with a drop shot. Zverev sealed the win on his fourth match point after 3 hours and 16 minutes. Griekspoor came close to beating Zverev for the second time after winning their previous head-to-head match against his German rival in Indian Wells last March. Zverev lead 7-2 in his head-to-head matches against Grieksppor.
Zverev is bidding to equal his countryman Kohlschreiber’s record tally of three titles in Munich.
Zverev went 6-6 between reaching January’s Australian Ope final and the start of Munich.
“I’m extremely happy. Finally, I won a close one. I’ve lost a few of those in the past few months and I always said, ‘I need to get one of these’. I did today. I’m extremely happy with how I hung in there, especially in the third set, being 0/40 down in my second service game. I’m proud to win this match and looking forward to the next two, hopefully.”, said Zverev.
