After beating Christopher O’Connell in the semi-finals of the China Open qualifying tournament, Botic van de Zandschulp was paired with Frenchman Terence Atmane, the 68th-ranked player in the ATP rankings.
Atmane, the third seed in the qualifying tournament, conceded the first break to Van de Zandschulp but forced a tiebreak despite hitting less than half of Van de Zandschulp’s winners (6 to 14) and scoring worse numbers in service points and return points.
The Frenchman quickly took control of the tiebreak by handing out three consecutive minibreaks, after which Van de Zandschulp levelled it out again. Atmane took the set regardless, breaking the Dutchman a fourth time to clinch a 7-5 tiebreak win.
Neither player gave away a single break in the second set, prompting the two to fight in another tiebreak. It took until the eighth point for a break to occur in the set, courtesy of Van de Zandschulp. The 84th-ranked Dutchman could not hold onto his advantage and gave up two service points immediately thereafter, giving Atmane his first two match points.
The Frenchman successfully took the match on his third match point, winning the tiebreak 9-7 and eliminating Botic van de Zandschulp from contention in Beijing.
Mannarino ends Dutch hopes again
Jesper de Jong met a similar fate in the Chinese capital, losing in straight sets to French veteran Adrian Mannarino: 6-4, 6-4.
The 79th-ranked Dutchman met Mannarino exactly one month after the latter’s straight-sets win over Tallon Griekspoor at the US Open. In Beijing, the French 37-year-old opened with a break and ran off to a 4-1 lead after reaching break point five times in the early stages.
A rebreak from De Jong could not save the Haarlem-born player, who lost the opening set 6-4.
The tables soon turned upon the start of the second set, which De Jong started by going up 3-0. However, the Dutchman lost control over the set with a 4-1 lead in his grasp, losing five consecutive games to give up the set and the match to Mannarino, who will face Bublik in the first round of the ATP Masters tournament.
Van de Zandschulp and De Jong’s defeats leave Tallon Griekspoor as the lone Dutch participant in Beijing. Griekspoor opens his tournament against Corentin Moutet, whom the Dutchman beat in the Mallorca final for his most recent ATP title.
