Griekspoor sent packing after horror first-round showing against Matteo Arnaldi

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/griekspoor-tallon/f3zfMU5i/"]Griekspoor[/a] was drawn against 104th-ranked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/arnaldi-matteo/hlVLAfZK/"]Matteo Arnaldi[/a] in the first round of the French Open, where the Dutchman attempted to reach the second round for a fourth year running.[/p][p]The match opened like a Griekspoor classic, with both players keeping their service games throughout and Griekspoor fighting off two break points in the eighth game. In the ensuing tiebreak, Arnaldi earned three set points after forcing two consecutive minibreaks. However, Griekspoor held on in a dramatic tiebreak that featured seven consecutive minibreaks, clinching an 11-9 win in the end.[/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="25386a8c-a27d-4b06-9497-da55fae7fb8e" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="0b25ec82-3e9c-4b8d-88dd-60c33b1f27d2" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p]The second set was more frustrating for Griekspoor, who looked to be in the driver's seat midway, but squandered a 40-15 lead to hand Arnaldi a break, after which the Dutchman kept Arnaldi alive once more in what grew to be a horror sequence. A struggling Griekspoor couldn't hold on for the remainder of the set and relinquished it to Arnaldi, with the sets divided one apiece after two hours.[/p][p]Arnaldi, who dropped out of the top 100 after months of physical struggles, took the fight to Griekspoor and frustrated the Dutchman. After coming back from 40-0 down in his own service game, Arnaldi made it all the way to set point, but squandered both opportunities as Griekspoor made it go all the way to tiebreak again.[/p][h2]Griekspoor falls apart[/h2][p]Griekspoor quickly took the initiative and made light work of Arnaldi in the tiebreak. A smart drop shot at the net earned Griekspoor four set points, but he wasted all of them to make the set unnecessarily exciting again. With Arnaldi back on serve, Griekspoor handed Arnaldi the set point, after which the Italian finished it with an easy passing shot - his sixth-straight point in the tiebreak.[/p][embed guid="cb114914-5265-4192-bffd-d98cc75452b5" url="https://x.com/Eurosport_NL/status/2059252393146028336?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]The Dutchman suffered another setback early in the fourth set, with Arnaldi breaking Griekspoor in his second service game and keeping the upper hand. The Italian won every single service game without dropping a point and took the win on his first match point, which coincided with his second break of the set.[/p][p]Griekspoor was sent packing after one round in Paris, while Matteo Arnaldi is set to face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/arnaldi-m-hlVLAfZK/griekspoor-t-f3zfMU5i/?mid=bobglp0d"]Check out the full match statistics on Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]