Giron Earns First Top 20 Win Against Goffin: 'You Couldn't See He Had Surgeries'
Marcos Giron earned one of the biggest wins of his career on Thursday, upsetting top seed David Goffin 6-3, 7-5 to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final at the European Open.
The American, who underwent right hip surgery in December 2015 and left hip surgery in February 2016, saved 10 of the 13 break points he faced to claim his first Top 20 victory against the World No. 14. Giron broke the Belgian’s serve five times to halt the home favourite’s chances of lifting a tour-level trophy on home soil.
“I didn’t know [about his surgeries], so after two hip surgeries it’s amazing how he’s moving and how strong he is with the legs, moving left and right,” Goffin said. “You couldn’t see that he had surgeries, so I think he had a good surgeon. Second of all he was moving well, he’s strong, you can see that his legs are really strong and he was really solid from the back. I’m happy to hear that he’s playing his best tennis after two tough surgeries.”
Goffin, the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up, is known for his baseline play, but he made some uncharacteristic errors sporadically during the match, allowing Giron to gain confidence. The Belgian battled from a break down to get back on serve twice in the second set, but he dug himself too many holes and eventually succumbed after one hour and 40 minutes.
“I was fighting the whole match and I think [there were] a lot of ups and downs,” Goffin said. “Sometimes [I played] some good games, sometimes I was playing well, sometimes [I was] aggressive. Sometimes in the game I was completely down with three unforced errors for no reason. It was like that the whole match, so if I… just erase some mistakes, it will be better and better match after match.”
[WATCH LIVE 1]Giron’s previous-best win by FedEx ATP Ranking came against then-World No. 24 Alex de Minaur at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open. Fittingly, the American will try to upset the Aussie again in the Antwerp quarter-finals.
Did You Know?
Giron cracked the world’s Top 100 for the first time on 31 August, just a month after turning 27.