It was only the second time Tallon Griekspoor reached a tour-level semifinal this year, following his final berth in Abu Dhabi. The Dutchman upset second seed Jiri Lehecka in the quarterfinals on Friday, setting up a meeting with third seed and world No. 21 Francisco Cerundolo.
The Argentinian was unequivocally on top in the opening set, playing near-flawless tennis that left Griekspoor frustrated. Cerundolo rounded up the first set in 29 minutes, winning 6-2 after notching 8 winners to just 4 unforced errors.
A much-improved second set saw Griekspoor take the fight to Cerundolo, who took a step back himself as well and allowed Griekspoor back into the contest with a late break. Cerundolo tried to stay alive and earned two break points, but Griekspoor shut him out and clinched the set on his second set point.
In the third and deciding set, Cerundolo and especially Griekspoor played high-level tennis, with the Dutchman barely losing a point on serve. That was until Cerundolo redeemed his first break point up 4-3, breaking Griekspoor with a passing shot to go within one game of the win.
Griekspoor responded swiftly and capitalised on Cerundolo's mistakes, who was off his game, forcing a quick break and levelling the set at five games apiece with a love game. The Dutchman hung on to his form, taking the set from 5-3 down to a decisive tiebreak.
Cerundolo continued to show a lesser version of himself and allowed Griekspoor to serve for the match after an unforced error - his 17th of the set. On his first match point, Griekspoor played fiercely on a second serve and finished the match with a crafty winner to secure his second tour final of the year.
In Sunday's final, Griekspoor will take on the winner of the match between top seed Arthur Fils and German world No. 58 Jan-Lennard Struff.
Check the full match statistics on Flashscore
