The hardest part is over, or almost.

Griekspoor got the better of his friend Van de Zandschulp in a match that was really tough for reasons that went beyond just tennis.

He admitted in the press conference after his win that it was a tough match for two reasons. The first is that there were several interruptions and the match was played over two days. The second reason is that he was facing a very good friend, Van de Zandschulp. The two players know each other inside out. They played doubles together this week before facing each other in singles. It’s not easy to play that kind of match, but Griekspoor was the better player. It’s not really a surprise on grass, he has a game that is excellent on it and he could have finished this match much more easily than the score suggests. I thought VDZ didn’t play that badly, but he once again showed too much inconsistency. For me, this is Griekspoor really getting his tournament started properly, and now he can roll on.

He now has to face Zhang. The Chinese player caused an upset by beating Brooksby, but he made the task much more complicated than necessary. He was way ahead in the first set before cracking and having to go through a tie-break. Then he had match points in the second set but missed them and ended up losing the set. However, he recovered perfectly in the final set and made his dominance count. He served really well and showed a good tennis level. But I also have to point out that Brooksby was disastrous. He didn’t hurt him on serve or in the rallies and was simply too weak. You get the feeling we saw a good Zhang because he had someone in front of him who let him play a lot and didn’t really cause him any problems. Last week in Birmingham against Virtanen, Zhang wasn’t as comfortable. First, because he had someone in front of him who served well and managed to maintain a sufficiently high level of danger throughout the match.

I’m working on the assumption that, against a stronger opponent this time, with weapons that really bother Zhang—namely a big-quality serve, an offensive game, good net play and aggressiveness, in other words someone who doesn’t let Zhang play in full attacking mode all the time—it will be harder for the Chinese player to shine. He is capable of serving very well and being super aggressive, but for me Griekspoor still has a margin over this type of player, and even more so on grass. My last argument is that this match will be played on Centre Court, which is actually very slow, especially compared with the outside court, which I find a bit faster—something that shouldn’t work in Zhang’s favor.