Tallon Griekspoor edged past Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-3 in 2 hours and 24 minutes to reach the quarter final at the Grand Prix II in Marrakesh.
Griekspoor continued his good period of form after beating world number 2 Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells en route to reaching his first Masters 1000 quarter final.
Griekspoor saved a break point in each of the first and fifth games of the opening set. The first set went on serve en route to the tie-break. Griekspoor earned three mini-break to win the tie-break 7-1.
Griekspoor went up a set and a break in the first game of the second game. Carreno Busta broke twice in the second and sixth games to win the second set 6-3.
Griekspoor broke serve at 15 in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead. The Dutch player held on his next service games to seal the third set 6-3 on his first match point.
Griekspoor set up a quarter final match against Matteo Bellucci, who converted four of his eight break points he earned in his 6-2 7-5 win over Pierre Hugues Herbert.
Bellucci broke twice in the first and fifth games to win the first set 6-2. Herbert broke serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Bellucci broke straight back after a double fault from Herbert in the fifth game. Herbert saved a break point in the seventh game to hold serve for 4-3. Bellucci earned his second break in the 11thgame to take a 6-5 lead and sealed the win on his second match point.
Luciano Darderi came back from one set down to beat Hugo Gaston 2-6 6-2 6-3. Darderi now leads 2-1 in his head-to-head matches against Gaston.
Gaston earned an early break at 15 in the first game of the opening set. Darderi converted his second break-back in the second game to draw level to 1-1. Gaston broke twice in the third and fifth games to win the first set 6-2.
Gaston saved three break points in the second game of the second set. Darderi earned two breaks in the fourth and eighth games to win the second set 6-2.
Darderi broke in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Gaston saved a total of seven match points (five in the eighth game and two in the ninth game) before Darderi converted his eight match point to win the third set 6-3.
Darderi set up a quarter final match against Czechia’s Vit Kopriva, who battled past Lorenzo Sonego 6-2 5-7 6-4 in a thrilling match. Kopriva beat Darderi in the final of the ATP Challenger in Neaples last week.
Kopriva broke twice in the first and third games to win the first set 6-2. The Czech player earned two breaks in the first and fifth games to build up a 6-2 5-1 lead. Sonego pulled one break back in the eighth game to close the gap to 3-5. The Italian player went down 0-40 in the ninth game but he saved four match points. Kopriva earned two more match points in the 10th game but he made two double faults and Sonego broke back to draw level to 5-5. Sonego broke again in the 12th game to win the second set 7-5.
Sonego converted his fourth break point in the second game to take a 2-0 kead in the third set. Kopriva broke straight back in the third game and held serve at 30 to draw level to 2-2. The Czech player broke for the second time in the sixth game as Sonego hit a backhand into the net.
