Griekspoor trumps Bonzi to clinch Tata Open
His father a former motocross driver, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor has a natural thrill for speed. At 26, his tennis career may not have taken the fast lane—those years of slog at the Challenger level more a steady drive—but his first ATP title has finally arrived.
Griekspoor, the world No 95 who’d broken into the top 50 last year after winning six Challenger titles in 2021, wrapped his hands around the 2023 ATP Tata Open Maharashtra trophy beating 60th-ranked Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the final on Saturday. The ATP 250 triumph makes him the first Dutchman since former world No 11 Sjeng Schalken in 2001 to win an ATP hard-court title, and comes after three halts at the quarter-final stage last year.
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“First week of the season, first title, nobody expected that probably," Griekspoor, given a walkover by top seed Marin Cilic in the quarter-final before running over eighth seed Aslan Karatsev in the semis, said. “I mean, the first title means a lot. There are so many people back home involved in this—my parents, my two (twin) brothers who played tennis as well. To make all these people proud and give them joy means a lot more to me.”
The 6’2’’ big-serving Dutch had not lost a set this week coming into the final, winning 30 of the 31 service games. He found the most inopportune time to drop his second service game and the first set. At 4-5 after a backhand winner from Bonzi set up three set points for the Frenchman, Griekspoor double faulted.
The Dutchman continued to stand tall at the baseline while Bonzi was more enterprising with his court movement. That, however, would go on to cost him. His serve now under pressure, a finely-executed lob that the backpedaling Bonzi couldn’t reach handed Griekspoor a break in the 11th game of the second set, which he sealed with a forehand down-the-line winner on the rise.
The looping ball above and beyond him at the net deflated Bonzi again in the third game of the deciding set, before a double fault on break point. Once Griekspoor got out of a tricky game with two big serves—he struck 17 aces—the lane to the title had been cleared for the Max Verstappen fan.
Jeevan-Balaji set French Open goal after loss
In the doubles final earlier in front of a near-capacity crowd rooting for Indian faces on centre court, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and N Sriram Balaji couldn't apply the finishing touch to their credible charge as an alternate pair, going down to Belgian fourth seeds Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-4, 6-4.
Getting a spot in Pune only after a late withdrawal, the 150 points from the first week will give a fillip to the Indian pair’s goal of getting into the top-100 and the Grand Slams this season after the two Challenger titles in 2022.
"Our short-term goal is to play the French Open," Balaji said. “We had a target of certain points in certain number of weeks, so this gives us a great start in that. The goal is to now keep climbing the ladder and make the cut for the French Open.”
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