Greek track overcomes weak start in Madrid, Van de Zandschulp exit | Tennis

The 27-year-old Greek track started slowly in his first clay match in Madrid, after a bye in the first round. The number 25 in the world was broken at 2-2 and could not recover from this blow in the first set: 4-6.

Greekpoor recovered in the second set. With no fewer than five aces and sixteen winners, he increased the pressure and broke his four-year-older opponent. Greek Spoor had no fewer than three set points to reach 1-1 in sets.

Greekpoor took that confidence into the third set, where he broke Daniel (ATP-85) at 4-4. After two hours and six minutes he scored his first match point.

In the third round, Greek Spoor meets eleventh-seeded Holger Rune, who won against the Argentinian Mariano Navone in the second round. The Dane was the strongest in three sets: 7-5, 6-7 (2) and 6-4.

For Van de Zandschulp, the second round in Madrid was the end point. The Veenendaler is not in the best period of his career and that was visible again against the Frenchman Ugo Humbert: 3-6 and 3-6. It was evenly matched until 3-3 in the first set, but then the world number fourteen won three games in a row.

In the second set, Humbert moved to 5-2 thanks to two breaks and was able to finish the match on his own serve. Just at that moment, Van de Zandschulp experienced a brief revival and broke back. In the next game the Dutchman gave away his serve again and the game was over.

The 28-year-old Van de Zandschulp has dropped to 115th place in the world rankings due to his poorer performances. In August 2022, he was still the global number 22. He is directly qualified for Roland Garros, which starts on May 26. The list for the Grand Slam tournament in Paris had already been drawn up before Van de Zandschulp dropped further.

Earlier this week, Van de Zandschulp announced that he will be working again with Peter Lucassen, who was previously his coach.