Griekspoor dropped one spot in the ATP rankings earlier this week and now occupies the 35th place after his early exit in Madrid, where Jack Draper eliminated the Dutchman in straight sets.
In Rome, Griekspoor and Kecmanovic saw their match get interrupted early when rain fell in the Italian capital. After the resumption, Griekspor took control with a love break in the fourth game, but soon fell behind after two consecutive breaks from his Serbian opponent. Kecmanovic ended up winning the first set 4-6.
The Serbian was looking to seal the win in the second set, but got to deal with a massively improved service of Griekspoor, who went 86% on his first serves and won his only second service point of the second set, which the Dutchman won 6-3 after a single break.
The Serbian 47th-ranked player opened the third and final set in struggling fashion with a break, but got to break point twice in the following game. Kecmanovic would take neither of those two points and slide further away. Griekspoor asserted his dominance in Rome and ended the game with a bagel: 6-0.
Griekspoor made the quarterfinals at Indian Wells earlier this year before crashing out in the first and second rounds of the ATP 1000 tournaments in Monaco and Madrid. His Monaco nemesis, Arthur Fils, will be the Dutchman's next opponent in the final master's tournament before the French Open.
View all the match statistics on Flashscore.
