French Open 2024: Alexander Zverev overcomes spirited attack from Tallon Griekspoor in hard-fought 5 set match

Tallon Griekspoor nearly stole the match from Alexander Zverev

Alexander Zverev celebrates after his third round win at Roland Garros

It took Alexander Zverev 4 hours and 12 minutes to get to match point in his third-round encounter against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor and another two minutes to convert it and seal his spot in the Round of 16. Zverev was literally put through the wringer by Griekspoor, in a match that could have gone the latter’s way if he’d held his nerve. Zverev conceded the first set 3-6, then won the next two 6-4 6-2, after which Griekspoor denied him the chance of finishing the match in four sets.

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But that was not all, Griekspoor then raced to a 4-1 lead in the decider, which had commentators raving about the absolute blinder that the Dutchman had unleashed, how he’d grabbed the match by the throat and left Zverev shaking. Unfortunately, though, Griekspoor could not capitalize on this, allowing Zverev to claw his way back and level the scores at 6-6. The tie-breaker was quite the one-sided affair, but that’s not to say that Griekspoor slackened off. There was phenomenal tennis on display, but on this day, Zverev was just the better man.

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Going into this match, Zverev and Griekspoor had played each other 4 times earlier, with the former having a clear 3-1 advantage. The prediction, of course, was that the World No. 4 would proceed to the Round of 16, which he has done, albeit after breaking quite a sweat. The final score 3-6 6-4 6-2 4-6 7-6.

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Zverev will not have much recovery time before heading into his Round 4 match with the winner of the Holger Rune vs Jozef Kovalik encounter. This match is currently suspended owing to inclement weather in Paris. Carlos Alcaraz, Corentin Moutet, Stefanos Tstitipas, Hubert Hurkacz, Jannik Sinner, Matteo Arnaldi, Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Daniil Medvedev are the others who are heading into week 2 of the clay court Grand Slam.

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