Griekspoor impressed at the ATP 1000 tournament after eliminating the top seed, Alexander Zverev. Thursday's quarter-final was the Dutchman's first at an ATP 1000 Masters tournament, and the ATP's 43rd-ranked player faced Danish star Holger Rune to reach his first semi-finals.
Rune eliminated two top-20 players in the forms of Ugo Humbert and Stefanos Tsitsipas before meeting Griekspoor in California - a player he'd only met twice throughout his career and hadn't beaten yet.
The two would jump out the gates fighting as Rune took an early 2-0 lead before losing four straight games to a raging Griekspoor. A re-break would even things out again before the Dutchman struck yet another blow by taking a 6-5 lead on his third break of the set.
A nerve-wracking twelfth game would ensue, and it was the Dane who'd rally to a 40-0 lead in Griekspoor's service game. Three breakpoints would pass before the Netherlands' highest-ranked player would tie the game at 40-40 but would soon face Rune's fifteenth break point of the set. Griekspoor managed to erase one for the seventh time and would clinch the set with a neat slice.
Implosion
Rune - who was fighting to reach his sixth career ATP Masters 1000 semi-final - dealt with Griekspoor in the second set's first game and would go on to absolutely dominate his Dutch counterpart throughout the set, winning a staggering 21 of the final 24 points en route to forcing a deciding third set.
Griekspoor's implosion amounted to 15 unforced errors in 31 total points in the second set, just one winner as opposed to Rune's seven, and just two won service points.
The Dutchman continued his struggles in the third set, grabbing his first service game before dropping three consecutive games with an aggressive net game, which earned Griekspoor just three net points out of a possible ten.
Rune fought to break Griekspoor for a second time, but the Dutchman survived on breakpoint in order to prevent Rune from serving for the match. The two would exchange love games before Rune got the opportunity to serve for the win - one the Dane would take with both hands and clinch with an ace.
Rune booked a spot in his sixth semi-final at a Masters tournament, setting up a meeting with Arthur Fils or Daniil Medvedev. Griekspoor, who won a career-best four matches at this year's 'fifth Grand Slam', will enter the top 40 of the ATP Rankings next Monday for the first time since October 2024.
View all match statistics on Flashscore.
