Tim van Rijthoven’s sensational run at the Libema Open has ended with him stunning world No.2 Daniil Medvedev in the final to claim his first Tour title.
The 25-year-old only managed to enter the tournament thanks to a wildcard and had never won a main draw match on the ATP Tour until this week. Nevertheless, he stunned the entire field by recording wins over Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime en route to the title match.
Taking on reigning US Open champion Medvedev in the final on Sunday, the inexperience of the Dutchman proved irrelevant as he rallied to an emphatic 6-4, 6-1, victory. At one stage he won seven games in a row against the Russian who imploded after losing the opener.
“This is new for me, it’s going to take some time getting used to,” Van Rijthoven said during his on-court interview. “What a dream this week. I would like to thank my team for staying humble this week, doing the normal things, not making this thing any bigger than it was.
“I would like to thank all of you (the crowd). “Your support was incredible this week.” He added.
A former top 20 junior player who once defeated Andrey Rublev in the 2013 Wimbledon boys’ tournament, van Rijthoven is now set to rise almost 100 places up the ATP rankings to inside the world’s top 110 for the first time. He is only the second active Dutch player to win an ATP trophy after Robin Haase and is the lowest-ranked player to win ’s-Hertogenbosch since Nicolas Mahut did so in 2013 when he was ranked 240th.
The unprecedented journey has drawn praise from Medvedev, who joked that he was ‘destroyed’ in the final. According to ATP data, it is the first time he has been beaten by a player ranked outside the top 200 since January 2018.
“Amazing week. [You] destroyed the No. 2 in the world in straight sets in the final, so I think it must be a good feeling!” Medvedev said to Van Rijthoven. “An amazing match today. Keep it going. I remember you from juniors, you have the talent so now you need to make more matches like this and more tournaments like this! Congrats to you and your team.”
Van Rijthoven is the first Dutch player to triumph in s-Hertogenbosch since 2003.
