Following his benchmark win over Alexander Zverev, Tallon Griekspoor was paired with 35th-ranked Matteo Arnaldi. The pair met just once before, with Arnaldi beating Griekspoor in four sets in the opening round of the French Open.
Both players opened the match serving well, with Arnaldi hitting all nine of his first serves in the opening set. The Italian broke Griekspoor, who needed medical attention for an apparent back injury, with his first break point. Arnaldi gave none to his Dutch opponent and finished the set on his own accord, breaking Griekspoor a second time on his third break point.
The two exchanged breaks to open the second set, which saw Griekspoor improve on his service game and keep Arnaldi pointless in return games for most of the set.
After getting just one shot at break point in the whole match, Griekspoor made his second one count in a crucial moment - the Dutchman flipped a switch to go up 5-4 and get a chance to serve for the second set. Arnaldi committed more mistakes, and although the Italian stopped a 14-point streak for Griekspoor in service games, the latter closed out the set with a terrific forehand winner on the line.
Griekspoor continued where he left off, breaking Arnaldi in the opening game of the deciding third set and keeping up the pace, getting two break chances to go up 4-1, which were both played off the board by the Italian. Arnaldi handed Griekspoor a double-break lead with two unforced errors, giving the Dutchman the firm initiative in the closing set.
Arnaldi bounced back and hit Griekspoor for the rebreak at the first time of asking, right before coming back to 4-3 through a pair of aces. Griekspoor got back in his rhythm to set up a 5-3 lead and trumped Arnaldi in the flailing Italian's service game to seal the match and head to the round of 16.
In the round of 16, Griekspoor will face Daniel Merida after the Spaniard's 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1 win over Alex Michelsen.
Check out the full match statistics on Flashscore
