Tim van Rijthoven took full advantage of a rare berth in the main tour when he claimed his first title by sidestepping Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the grass field tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The 25-year-old Dutchman, 205th in the world ranking, needed 1 hour and 5 minutes to crush the Russian who, despite the loss, returns to number one in the ATP ranking on Monday instead of Novak Djokovic. Van Rijthoven, who was invited to the Dutch event as a wild card, had spent this season, like most of his career, on the second division Challenger Tour.
“This is new to me, it will take some getting used to,” said Van Rijthoven, who had not yet won a competition at tour level earlier this week, in his on-track interview.
“What a dream this week. I want to thank my team for staying humble this week, doing the normal things and not making this thing bigger than it was.”
Medvedev told the new champion: “The first time in an ATP final and you destroy the number two in the world.”
Van Rijthoven fell in the qualifying rounds of the first two majors of this year, but he is the only one of the Sunday singles finalists in ‘s-Hertogenbosch who is eligible to play at Wimbledon.
Medvedev and the two women’s finalists, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and Russia’s Ekaterina Sabalenka, have been barred from participating in the grass track following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, world number 30 Alexandrova caused a surprise by beating top division Sabalenka 7-5, 6-0.
It is only the Russian’s second title in his career after her win in Shenzhen in 2020.
promoted
Sabalenka, sixth in the world rankings and last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist, led 5-4 in the first set before her game imploded.
The Belarusian conceded nine games in a row and coughed up 31 unforced errors. Alexandrova, 27, finished the match with her best weapon, two service winners and an ace.
Topics mentioned in this article