Griekspoor stages thrilling comeback from set down to end Fritz's streak and Reach DC Open Final

Tallon Griekspoor overcame a set down and defeated Taylor Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to advance to his third final of the year at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The 12th seed Dutchman had a remarkable week, quietly advancing through the main draw in Washington. He defeated Liam Broady, Gael Monfils, and the 16th seed Jeffrey John Wolf to set up a clash with the top seed and the last remaining American in the competition, Taylor Fritz.

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Fritz entered the semifinal with a seven-match winning streak and the title from the Atlanta Open last week. He started the DC Open with a quick victory over Zachary Svajda, then defeated the 15th seed Andy Murray and Australian Jordan Thompson in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal between Fritz and Griekspoor began with the top seed securing a break in the second game of the match. Although Fritz faced some difficulties in his subsequent service games, he saved five break points against him and maintained the advantage to take the first set 6-3.

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In a closely contested second set, Griekspoor capitalized on the second break point offered by Fritz when the score was 4-3 in his favor, taking control and winning the second set 6-3 to force a deciding third set.

Once again, it seemed like the third set would be decided by details, as both players were holding their service games without conceding break points to their opponents. However, in the fifth game, Griekspoor took advantage of a couple of errors from Fritz to gain an edge.

With the pressure on, Fritz lost his service again in his next service game, ultimately giving the victory to his opponent. Griekspoor won the last five games of the match and sealed a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

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The 27-year-old Dutchman improved his statistics during the match, hitting 39 winners and committing 10 unforced errors, surpassing Fritz's performance with 31 winners and 13 unforced errors.

Griekspoor's opponent for the final will be determined tonight in the match between Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and British Dan Evans. In their head-to-head, Dimitrov leads 3-2, with a 2-1 advantage on hard courts.

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