Griekspoor recovers from 3-5 down in the decider to beat Cerundolo and reach Brussels final

Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands came back from 3-5 down in the deciding set to beat No. 3 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) on Saturday afternoon and reach the final of the Brussels ATP 250.

Cerundolo dominated the first set and was two games from the final in the third, but he could not close it out. Griekspoor leveled at 5-5, forced a tiebreak and took it 7-4.

The final is the seventh of Griekspoor’s career, his second of the season and his first indoors. He is the first Dutchman to reach a final at the event, and the first Dutchman to reach an ATP Tour final on indoor hard courts since Robin Haase in Vienna in 2013.

His only other final this year, in Dubai in February, ended without a ball being hit when he gave Daniil Medvedev a walkover.

A tough road through the draw

Griekspoor, 30 and ranked No. 60, had to work for every win this week. He beat German wildcard Max Schoenhaus 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 7-5 in the first round and No. 8 seed Mariano Navone of Argentina 7-6 (4), 7-5 in the second. In the quarterfinals he beat No. 2 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Lehecka had reached the final here in each of the past two years.

Griekspoor’s win over Cerundolo leveled their head-to-head at 1-1, after the Argentine won their only previous meeting 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 at the Miami Masters 1000 in 2022.

Another hard-court semifinal slips away for Cerundolo

For Cerundolo, the defeat was a painful one. The 28-year-old, ranked No. 21, missed out on his third final of the season after Buenos Aires and Queen’s Club, and is still waiting for his first on hard courts: it was his third loss in three hard-court semifinals. A win would have made him only the sixth Argentine man in the Open Era to reach finals on clay, grass and hard courts.

He had beaten Martin Damm, an American lucky loser, 6-4, 7-6 (4) and French qualifier Clement Chidekh 6-2, 6-4. He will still finish the week inside the top 20, but the loss makes it harder for him to finish the year higher.

Griekspoor will face top seed Arthur Fils of France or Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the final of the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open on Sunday. Fils leads him 3-1 in their head-to-head, while Griekspoor has won all three of his meetings with Struff.