Top American Taylor Fritz’s seven match winning streak was stopped at the semifinals of the D.C. Open Saturday night in three sets by Tallon Griekspoor.
The 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph for the 37th-ranked Dutchman is his first career win over a top 10 opponent in 10 attempts. He’ll play Sunday evening for his third ATP title of 2023 and 28th match win of the year. A 12-seed in D.C., Griekspoor was No. 153 in the world at the start of 2021 before catching fire this year.
“Coming here, first week of the American swing. I like the hard courts, but, I mean, making final here is something really special,” Griekspoor said. “Especially beating Taylor here at home. He’s a Top-10 player for many years already. I just kept working day in and day out, trying to do the right things.”
Fritz, the world No. 9 and top Washington seed was vying for his second final in as many weeks after his run to the Atlanta Open title last week.
“I think he returned pretty well,” Fritz said. “I think him going to the chip return a lot probably wouldn’t work if we were playing in slightly faster conditions, because then I can just whip my backhand cross and come in behind it, which I still tried to do tonight, but because these conditions are so slow, dead, it’s really, really tough to spin a ball and still make it go.”
Before Saturday, Fritz has only had been broken twice in his previous 82 service games and only once this tournament. Griekspoor did it three times, including twice in the decisive set, while only facing two break points the entire match.
“I think at some point, I was reading the serve a little bit. I felt comfortable on the return. I know his favorite spots from the last few matches the last few weeks,” Griekspoor said. “I think at some point that just got in the right flow. Already at the end of the first, I think at 4-2, we had a pretty long game where I had, like, four or five breakpoints, didn’t break him. I said to my coaches at 6-3, 1-all, ’If I can serve a bit better, can get a bit more momentum in my games, I might win this match.’”
“I mean, when he broke me in the second and when he broke me in the third,” Fritz said, “he played incredible games. I don’t think I did anything wrong in those games. If I’m being extremely nitpicky about it, I guess I could have hit better spots on some of the serves and stuff like that. But when we got into the rallies in those points, I thought I played them all really well.”
“It’s extra frustrating, because it’s, I don’t really have an answer for what I would have done differently in a lot of those rallies that I ended up losing. I thought I played them all really well.”
Griekspoor will face the winner of the late match Saturday between fifth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and ninth-seeded Brit Daniel Evans in the first meeting between the two. Evans eliminated Hyattsville-native and two-seed Frances Tiafoe in straight sets in the quarterfinals on Friday. Griekspoor’s win ensures Andy Roddick will remain the last American man to have won in Washington, having done so in 2007.
“I don’t know what it is, but I’m liking the conditions, during the day but also during the night,” Griekspoor said of what most players have called slow court conditions partially to a new, thicker tennis ball this year. “I think the final is at 5:00 tomorrow. I mean, both of them, I lost to them twice last year. But I think I was not the player I am today that I was last year. I mean, Grigor, great player already, for so many years. Same for Dan.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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