Tallon Griekspoor spent the last three days of his week in Brussels losing first sets, and won all three matches anyway. On Sunday evening he came back again to beat Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Brussels ATP 250, becoming the first Dutchman to win a tour-level title indoors since Martin Verkerk in Milan in 2003.

The pattern had started in the quarterfinals, when he lost the first set to No. 2 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic before winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the semifinals, he was a set down and trailed 3-5 in the decider before beating No. 3 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Earlier in the week, he had beaten German wildcard Max Schoenhaus 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 7-5 and No. 8 seed Mariano Navone of Argentina 7-6 (4), 7-5.

A fourth title, and a place in Dutch history

The title is the fourth of Griekspoor’s career, his first since Mallorca in June last year and only his second on hard courts, after Pune in 2023. It makes him only the sixth Dutchman in the Open Era to win at least four tour-level titles, joining Tom Okker, Richard Krajicek, Sjeng Schalken, Jacco Eltingh and Jan Siemerink.

Griekspoor, 30 and ranked No. 60, had reached only one other final this season, in Dubai in February, which he lost without playing when he gave Daniil Medvedev a walkover. He now leads Struff 4-0 in their head-to-head.

Struff falls one match short at 36

Struff, ranked No. 58, was trying to become the second-oldest champion of the season, at 36 years and 6 months, behind only Novak Djokovic in Beijing. He was playing his first final on hard courts and the first of his career since winning his only title in Munich in 2024.

Both finalists leave Brussels back inside the top 50. Griekspoor climbs to No. 50 on Monday and Struff to No. 47, pushing Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov out of the top 50.