Tallon Greekpoor reached the second round of the Australian Open last night in Melbourne with character. After being 2-0 behind in sets, De Venneper straightened up and defeated the Russian Roma Safioellin in five sets: 2-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 and 7-5.
After more than an hour, Greek track seemed to be heading for a hopeless defeat. On court 7, he had little say in the aggressive baseline play of the tough Russian and grumbled a lot, especially about the crowd that, according to him, caused far too much distraction. Since this year, fans have been allowed to take a seat in the stands after every game, normally only during side changes.
Rest away for a long time
With a 4-4 score in the third set, the 27-year-old Greek track survived a break point and struck in the tiebreak. In the fourth set he went to 5-1, but only at 5-4 did he win the set. Safioellin, the number 36 in the world, subsequently disappeared from the track for a long time and that led to complaints from Greek Spoor, who wanted to resume the match.
In the fifth set, Greek Spoor had a hard time physically and he had to catch his breath several times while boarding. Once he even asked his coaches along the court if they would throw him a bottle of water during the game.
Eight break points
Safioellin, the global number 36, raised his level again in the deciding set. The Russian lowered his error rate and a fascinating fight ensued. Greekpoor eliminated no fewer than eight break points in the fifth set, often with daring tennis and a number of risky second serves. A break followed at 5-5 and he won the match after almost four hours of tennis.
It is only the first victory of the season for Greek Spoor. He started this year with two defeats at the United Cup and then withdrew from the Adelaide tournament to prepare properly for the Australian Open. Last year, Greek Spoor reached the third round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. He then lost to the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Greekpoor will play against Arthur Fils in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday. Last year, the Frenchman was too strong for Greek Spoor in the US Open after a grueling match. Fils is currently number 34 in the world, Greek Spoor is number 31 in the ATP rankings.