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Tallon Griekspoor smashed his racket in a violent outburst during his Round of 32 loss to Alexander Zverev at the Indian Wells Masters.
Griekspoor had received a first-round bye at the ATP Masters 1000 event. He started his campaign in the Round of 64, where he breezed past Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-3. Zverev, seeded sixth, also kickstarted his Indian Wells campaign with a dominant 6-4, 6-4 win against Christopher O'Connell.
Zverev was initially sluggish against Griekspoor, who raced to a 5-3 lead in the first set and looked like the favorite to win it. However, the former miraculously turned things around and forced a tiebreak.
Griekspoor again found himself in an advantageous position to wrap up the set as he had two set points in the tiebreak. However, yet again, he failed to convert. Ultimately, it was Zverev who won the tiebreak, leaving the 27th seed ruing his missed opportunities.
Unable to contain his frustrations, Griekspoor took out his rage on his racket. When the chair umpire was announcing the first set scoreline, the Dutchman smashed his racket six times. He seemed to calm down for a moment, but he smashed it twice more before finally heading towards his courtside chair.
You can watch a clip of the same below:
Alexander Zverev to take on Alex de Minaur at Indian Wells after eliminating Tallon Griekspoor
Griekspoor looked worn out and devoid of confidence in the second set. Zverev took full advantage of his opponent's fatigue and comfortably wrapped it up 6-3. With the win, the German has set up a Round-of-16 clash against the in-form Alex de Minaur at Indian Wells.
Zverev and De Minaur have faced off on eight occasions previously on the ATP Tour. The former has had the upper hand over the Australian, leading their head-to-head 6-2. However, their last meeting in the semifinals of the 2024 United Cup in Sydney went De Minaur's way as he stunned Zverev 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
The United Cup meeting between the pair proved monumental for De Minaur, as it helped him to break into the top 10 of the ATP Tour rankings for the first time in his career. It also helped Australia to stay in contention for a place in the United Cup final.
However, De Minaur's win over Zverev ultimately proved futile for Australia as Germany reached the final at their expense.
