Cazaux defeats Griekspoor in straight sets at the Australian Open

Tallon Griekspoor failed to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open. The best tennis player in the Netherlands suffered a hopeless defeat at the hands of French rival, Arthur Cazaux. He knocked Griekspoor out in one hour and 46 minutes, winning three straight sets: 6-3, 6-3, and 6-1. There are no longer any Dutch players active in the singles tournament.

Griekspoor entered the tournament ranked 28th in the world. Cazaux, the world's number 122, secured a wildcard spot to enter the tournament.

Griekspoor did not start well on court three of Melbourne Park on Saturday, and immediately lost his first service game. He was unable to make up for the deficit. At 5-3 the Frenchman finished it off convincingly with four strong serves.

In the early stages of the second set, Griekspoor was able to keep up, but his serve was broken at 3-3. The tennis star from Haarlem, Noord-Holland, then threw his racket hard against the ground and broke it in half with his foot.

Griekspoor did not show much improvement in the third set. He was unable to win many points quints because his serve failed him, and his play was often inferior in rallies with Cazaux.

At 4-1, Griekspoor neutralized three break points, but Cazaux came up with a nice shot after a lob from Grieksppor on the fourth break point. Not much later, the French player finished it off very convincingly with a series of good serves. He won on his first match point after an hour and forty-five minutes. He hit a total of fourteen aces, compared to only four for Griekspoor. The Dutch player did not get a single break point the entire match.

Cazaux then celebrated with the French fans on the intimate court three. Many French people had gathered on the side court, and they were noisy throughout the match.

Griekspoor indicated after his previous match that he was suffering from a toe injury, but he did not use that as an excuse for the loss when speaking after the match. "I played far below par and my forehand, backhand and serve didn't work at all. I couldn't find the court with the ball. But he deserved the win and I have to go back to the drawing board," he said.

Griekspoor could have reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time. No Dutch player has entered the fourth round in Melbourne in 20 years. In 2004, Sjeng Schalken was among the last sixteen at the Australian Open.

Griekspoor, who is 27 years old, entered the match with a ranking of 31. Cazaux received his wildcard through a collaboration between the Australian Open and Roland Garros. In the previous round, the Frenchman had already eliminated eighth-seeded Holger Rune.

Cazaux, who is 21 years of age, will face the Hubert Hurkacz from Poland in the fourth round. He won in four sets against the French player Ugo Humbert.