In Rotterdam, The Show Goes On Without Biggest Stars

Tallon Griekspoor
Tallon Griekspoor (photo: Brigitte Urban)

ROTTERDAM/WASHINGTON, February 10, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

The 53rd edition of the ABN-Amro Open is underway in Rotterdam, the second-largest city in the Netherlands and Europe’s biggest seaport, without either of its two most-recent champions – World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz (2025) and World No. 2 Jannik Sinner (2024) – or the expected No. 1 seed in their absence, World No. 4 Alexander Zverev, who pulled out of the tournament last week citing right ankle discomfort.

However, fear not, the show goes on for this highly-competitive ATP 500 indoor hard-court event, and this year’s field feature five of the current Top-20 players: World No. 6 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, winner of last week’s Montpellier title; World No. 8 Alex de Minaur of Australia; No. 10 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan; and Russia’s No. 11 Daniil Medvedev and No. 18 Karen Khachanov. (Medvedev was upset by No. 36 Ugo Humbert of France on Monday).

Plus, there are five players from the Netherlands in the draw representing the best of the present and future of Dutch men’s tennis.

On Tuesday, the two-time Rotterdam finalist de Minaur began his quest to become the first player in tournament history to reach three consecutive ABN-Amro Open finals. In 2024, he lost the final to Sinner, then in 2025 he fell to Alcaraz. Top-seeded this time, de Minaur opened against No. 42 Arthur Fils of France, one of eight French players in the 32-player draw – the most of any country.

While the two split their previous two meetings, de Minaur, who led the ATP Tour in hard-court wins last season (43) and is the top seed at an ATP 500 event for the first time, proved to be the steadier player. The Aussie No. 1 prevailed, 7-6 (3), 6-2, in an hour and 32 minutes, winning on his second match-point opportunity, to advance to the second round against Wednesday’s winner between No. 88 Aleksandar Vukic of Australia and 106th-ranked wild card Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, who is competing for the final time this week in Rotterdam.

“It was never going to be easy and that was exactly it,” de Minaur said during his on-court interview. “I was ready for a battle and up for the challenge. I was excited for it. I haven’t had too many easy matches this year. The way I’m looking at it is as a challenge. I’m enjoying it and looking forward to it. It pushes me to be ready from the very first point. It’s great.”

De Minaur prided himself with his pin-point accuracy throughout the match. He won 76 percent (28 of 37) of his first-serve points and backed it up by winning 80 percent (16 of 20) of his second-serve points. He hit 10 winners, converted three of five break points and outpointed Fils 74-53 en route to his 49th career ATP 500 victory since 2023.

Meanwhile, Fils was denied in his attempt to record the eighth Top-10 win of his career (7-13, 3-7 on hard courts).

Griekspoor feels at home in Rotterdam

Dutch No. 1 Tallon Griekspoor improved to 19-4 on home soil since the start of the 2023 season after defeating No. 56 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and 12 minutes on Centre Court Tuesday afternoon. He finished with 10 aces and won 82 percent (32 of 39) of his first-serve points. Griekspoor saved all six break points he faced and outpointed Mpetshi Perricard 66-51. He’s through to the second round at Rotterdam for the seventh time and will face No. 77 Quentin Halys of France Wednesday evening.

“Eighty per cent of my best wins have come here at Ahoy,” Griekspoor said, quoted by the tournament’s website. “I love playing in front of a home crowd. Winning matches in Rotterdam always means a lot to me. The most beautiful victory might have been in 2024, against Hubert Hurkacz in the second round, with three tie-breaks. I think that perhaps, I’m a bit more built to play under pressure than others.”

Making his ninth main draw appearance in Rotterdam, the No. 7 seed Griekspoor is the first Dutchman seeded at Rotterdam since 2004, when Sjeng Schalken was seeded No. 7 and Martin Verbeek was seeded No. 8. The last Dutch champion of this event was Jan Siemerink in 1998, when Griekspoor was just a year old.

Now, the 29-year-old native of Haarlem, is the highest-ranked player of five from the Netherlands that comprise this year’s 32-player draw

Thus far, besides Griekspoor, Botic van de Zandschulp advanced over French qualifier Luka Pavlovic on Monday. Meanwhile, Dutch qualifier Mees Röttgering pushed Quentin Halys to three sets before losing. The other two Dutch players – wild card Guy Den Ouden and Jesper De Jong – will be in action on Wednesday.

Around the Rotterdam Ahoy

• Jan-Lennard Struff won the first eight games of his first-round match against Hugo Grenier of France. By the end of the 64-minute match, the 82nd-ranked German had prevailed over the 188th-ranked French qualifier, 6-0, 6-4. Struff dropped only four points on his first serve and broke Grenier’s serve five times. He outpointed his opponent 60-35. Next, Struff will face either No. 3 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, ranked 10th, or No. 70 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who play Wednesday.

• Lucky loser Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia pulled through a pair of tiebreakers against No. 39 Zizou Bergs of Belgium, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5), in two hours and 19 minutes to advance to the second round. He will await the winner of Wednesday evening’s featured match between No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada and No. 50 Alexei Popyrin of Australia. The 79th-ranked Medjedovic saved seven of 10 break points and broke Bergs three times. He outpointed Bergs 98-95.

• In doubles, No. 1 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Dutch duo Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp. Also, No. 2 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany were upset by Montpellier finalists Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner of Germany, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 13-11; and No. 4 seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy advanced over lucky losers Johannes Ingildsen of Denmark and Mick Veldheer of the Netherlands, 6-3, 7-6 (8).

Tuesday’s ABN-Amro Open results

Wednesday’s ABN-Amro Open order of play

By the numbers

Former Dutch junior champion Mees Röttgering saved four match points and endured a 30-point, quarter-of-an-hour sixth game to avoid being bageled in the final set of his 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss to Quentin Halys of France Tuesday afternoon. 

The 18-year-old qualifier from Wanssum, ranked 614th, drew much applause from the Dutch fans each time he saved a match point while down 0-5 in the third set against 77th-ranked Halys during their one-hour, 54-minute first-round match. Röttgering was outpointed 94-74 during the one-hour, 53-minute match on Centre Court.

A year ago, Röttgering was ranked No. 839 on the ATP Tour and received a wild card into the main draw. He lost in the opening round to Mattia Bellucci of Italy. Now, he’s recently enrolled at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., with the hope of using the U.S. college circuit as a strategic step to advance his professional tennis career.

“I am happy with my development,” Röttgering told reporters afterward. “I hope to be able to take more steps.”

“Quotable …”

“The surface is difficult, I would say. I’ve played some good matches here in the past. I haven’t always been lucky with winning results but I’ve played some decent matches here. This is one of the nicest courts we have on tour – a huge arena – it’s very nice. I was very happy with how I stated. … I knew I had to be focused from the beginning. … I’m happy to be through [to the second round]. …

“I like Rotterdam, I like the tournament. It’s close to home. I just drove two-and-a-half hours here after Davis Cup last week. It’s all close by. So, I’m happy and pleased.”

– Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, during his on-court interview after advancing to the second round after defeating Hugo Grenier of France.

 

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