The 25-year-old Tim Van Rijthoven came to s-Hertogenbosch ranked 205th. The Dutch player embraced his second ATP tournament (2016 Winston-Salem) and went all the way to lift the first ATP title. Van Rijthoven had no wins in the ATP tournaments by his name, but that was hardly an obstacle for him on the fastest surface in front of the home fans. Tim took down Matthew Ebden in two tie breaks and toppled the 3rd seed Taylor Fritz in three sets after a massive battle to find himself in the quarter-final. Hugo Gaston fell in the last eight, and the Dutchman faced two most formidable obstacles en route to the title. Tim prevailed over the 2nd seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semis to advance into the first ATP final. The top seed and next week’s world no. 1 Daniil Medvedev stood on the other side of the net, and he could not stop the home favorite from lifting the trophy. Tim toppled Daniil 6-4, 6-1 in 65 minutes to become the lowest-ranked champion of the season and the first home player with the s-Hertogenbosch crown in 19 years!
Tim Rijthoven secured the first ATP title in s-Hertogenbosch.
Van Rijthoven dropped nine points behind the initial shot and lost serve once in the opening set’s early stages. The Dutchman claimed half of the return points against a pale Russian and seized four out of ten break chances to control the pace and march over the finish line in no time. World no. 2 lost serve in the encounter’s second game after a double fault. Daniil’s nose started to bleed in the third game, and he still broke at 15 to get his name on the scoreboard. The home player barely lost a point behind the initial shot in the rest of the set and kept the pressure on the other side. Medvedev survived three break chances in the sixth game and grabbed five straight points to bring it home and level the score at 3-3. Returning at 5-4, Tim fired his one-handed backhand to create two set points, seizing the first to build a 6-4 advantage in 39 minutes.
With a boost on his side, Van Rijthoven dropped two points behind the initial shot in set number two and took charge on the return to leave the better-ranked player miles behind. Medvedev got broken in the second game after a forehand forced error right after the serve, and the Dutchman held at love with a service winner in the next one for 3-0. Daniil sprayed a backhand mistake in game four to fall further behind, and Tim painted a forehand down the line winner in the next one to open a 5-0 gap. Medvedev saved a match point on serve in game six to avoid an embarrassing bagel. Showing no sign of nerves, Tim landed another service winner in game seven to bring the victory home and start a massive celebration of his first ATP title.