De Jong Scores Biggest Win Of Young Career, Reaches Montpellier Quarterfinals

Jesper de Jong
Jesper de Jong (photo: Open Occitanie/JB Autissier)

MONTPELLIER/WASHINGTON, January 30, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Jesper de Jong scored the biggest win of his young career at the Open Occitanie with his upset of World No. 34 Flavio Cobolli Thursday afternoon. De Jong can be forgiven if there was a look of surprise on his face when he secured match point. That’s because he’s never reached the last eight of an ATP Tour event before in his nascent career.

Patience and fortitude – plus a bit of mental toughness, too – were the 131st-ranked de Jong’s allies against third-seeded Cobolli in Montpellier. They rewarded the 24-year-old Dutchman with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory in an hour and 56 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez. Best of all, de Jong’s triumph advanced him to his first ATP Tour quarterfinal.

De Jong first broke into the Top 500 back in 2019, ascended to the Top 200 in 2022, and earned a career-high No. 103 last August, soon after winning his third ATP Challenger Tour title in Sassuolo, Italy. He has compiled a 100-69 win-loss record and reached seven finals on the Challenger circuit. Coupled with his first-round win by retirement over French wild card Quentin Halys on Wednesday, de Jong has earned back-to-back tour-level wins for the first time and improved his ATP Tour record to 4-8 – 2-4 against players inside the Top 50.

Jesper de Jong, Montpellier

Jesper de Jong (photo: Open Occitanie/JB Autissier)

“I played pretty much the match of the year and it’s only January,” de Jong said excitedly during his on-court interview. “I don’t think I made many mistakes. In the 2-1 game in the second set, he broke me. Despite that, I played an unbelievable match. It helped me that I played qualies and he went straight into the main draw. It was an advantage.”

From the outset, de Jong played aggressively. He hit nine aces, won 90 percent of points (27 of 30) on his first serve, struck 15 winners to 16 unforced errors and was broken just once. He broke Cobolli’s serve twice in six opportunities, pushed the Italian into committing 30 unforced errors, and outpointed his opponent 77-59.

De Jong, who is one of several Dutch players in Montpellier featured this week, will face one of his Davis Cup teammates, No. 5 seed Tallon Griekspoor, in Friday’s quarterfinals.

The Era of Gasquet ends in Montpellier

The 46th-ranked Griekspoor defeated No. 132 Richard Gasquet of France, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, in two hours and three minutes on Court Patrick Dominguez Thursday evening for his 25th indoor win since the start of the 2023 season.

Griekspoor struck 41 winners, including 18 aces. He won 75 percent of his first-serve points, converted two of five break points and outpointed Gasquet 92-90. He fought off six break points in the deciding set, including four in the ninth game alone. The Frenchman countered with 11 aces and 32 winners. He managed just one break in nine tries against Griekspoor.

“I don’t know how I got away with that. I guess I was a little bit lucky there,” Griekspoor said during his on-court interview. “A lot of second serves there as well, just a little bit lucky there. It went my way. Happy with the win in the end and happy to get another chance to come back tomorrow.”

With his victory over Gasquet, Griekspoor has advanced to his 17th career ATP Tour quarterfinal – his seventh on a hard court – and he’s the first Dutch player to reach the last eight in Montpellier. The 28-year-old is 9-1 in his last 10 matches against players ranked outside the Top 20.

Meanwhile, Gasquet, 38, leaves Montpellier owning tournament records for most appearances (13), most titles (3, tied with Gaël Monfils), and he reached six straight tournament finals (from 2013-18). He is set to retire at this year’s Roland-Garros in May.

“Big applause for Richard,” Griekspoor said. “Unbelievable career, achieved so much. If I can achieve a little bit of what he’s achieved in his career, I’d absolutely sign for it. It was an absolute pleasure to share the court with him here in Montpellier.”

During an on-court interview, Gasquet said (translated from French): “It’s not over yet, I have a few matches left, and then I’ll try to experience tennis in a different way, with you in the stands. What I remember: the emotions, the fact of having made a childhood dream come true. I know how lucky I was.” 

Around the Open Occitanie

• No. 102 Aleksandar Kovacevic of the United States advanced to his fifth career tour-level quarterfinal with with 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory over No. 98 Mattia Bellucci of Italy in one hour and 45 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez. Kovacevic withstood 15 aces and 32 winners from Bellucci and countered with nine aces and 28 winners of his own. He won 89 percent of his first-serve points, converted his only break-point opportunity and outpointed Bellucci 74-68.

On Friday, Kovacevic will oppose defending champion and No. 4 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.

• Qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia advanced to play World No. 10 and No. 1 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in Friday’s quarterfinal round. The 32-year-old, 178th-ranked Basilashvili defeated No. 7 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France, 6-0, 7-6 (4), in an hour and 37 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez Thursday evening. The 61st-ranked Rinderknech was the last of nine French players who began the tournament to be eliminated.

The victory advanced Basilashvili into his 28th ATP Tour quarterfinal and first since 2022 at Munich. He’s the lowest-ranked Montpellier quarterfinalist since No. 210 Jo-Wilfried Tonga of France in 2019.

• Unseeded Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandsculp of the Netherlands upset defending doubles champion and this year’s No. 1 seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in an hour and 33 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez Thursday afternoon.

The Dutch duo converted three of five break points and outpointed their opponents 71-68.

The victory advanced Haase and van de Zandschulp into the semifinal round against French pair Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Jacq, who defeated No. 3 seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Yuki Bhambri of India, 6-4, 7-5, in an hour and 32 minutes on Court 1.

• In another quarterfinal, No. 4 seeds Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Luke Johnson of Great Britain defeated Flavio Cobolli of Italy and Jonathan Eysseric of France, 6-2, 6-2, in 54 minutes on Court 1 to advance to the semifinals against Dutch team Tallon Griekspoor and Bart Stevens.

Thursday’s Open Occitanie results

Friday’s Open Occitanie order of play

By the numbers

At World No. 34, Flavio Cobolli of Italy is the second-highest ranked player on the ATP behind World No. 25 Tomas Machac of Czechia yet to win an ATP Tour title. No. 36 Alex Michelsen of the United States, No. 40 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy and No. 42 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina round out the Top 5.

“Quotable …”

“I feel like I’m playing well. … Obviously, it’s a good start to the tournament. I come here with the goal to play here on Sunday in the finals. There’s still a lot of tennis to play until then.”

– No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, during his on-court interview, following his 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over 101st-ranked Arthur Cazaux of France on Wednesday evening. Auger-Aliassime was a semifinalist at Montpellier last year.

 

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