No. 1 seed out after one match in Indian Wells, as Griekspoor upsets Zverev

Tallon Griekspoor had been 0-18 all time against top-five opponents. So you can’t blame him for getting tight at the finish line.

Griekspoor saw five match points come and go on his own serve before getting broken at 6-5 in the third set, but he recovered in the ensuing tiebreaker to defeat top-seeded Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) during second-round action at the BNP Paribas Open on Frudat afternoon. The Dutchman advanced after three hours and seven minutes, converting his sixth match point at 6-4 in the ‘breaker.

Griekspoor was previously 1-6 lifetime against Zverev and had lost five times in a row–including twice in final-set tiebreakers last season.

“It was such a mental thing,” the world No. 43 admitted. “I lost to him [four] times last year and had absolute heartbreak at Roland Garros where I was up a double-break in the fifth. I played so many battles against him and had chances but they all went his way. I am incredibly proud of myself from this performance and to get it over the line.”

For Zverev, it is another disappointing post-Australian Open result with the door to the No. 1 ranking flung wide open by Jannik Sinner’s three-month suspension. The second-ranked German lost early in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Acapulco, and now Indian Wells.

“I always struggle against him,” Zverev said of Griekspoor. “He’s a complicated player for me, for sure, even though I win–but a lot of them are tight matches. He played a good match; there’s no question about that. But I have to look at myself a little bit, and it’s nowhere near where I want to be.

“It was in the beginning,” he responded when asked if the No. 1 ranking opportunity was a factor. “Now it’s less, because I’m just playing terrible. So for me, I have to find my game before thinking about that, because to become world No. 1, you have to win tournaments. I’m not past getting (the) first, second round at the moment. So I need to figure that out first.”