With Griekspoor's fellow Dutchmen all eliminated from both the singles and doubles tournaments, the hope of the home crowd - which predominantly consisted of enthusiastic children during the tournament's Kids Day - laid on the shoulders of the 28-year-old.
Having started the game off strong with two aces, home hero Griekspoor couldn't muster adequate answers to Berrettini's service game as the two went toe-to-toe in the opening stages. But it was Griekspoor who dealt the first blow by breaking Berrettini in the sixth game of the first set after Griekspoor profited from a double fault and a rash return on a slice.
Griekspoor - born just 60 minutes away from Rotterdam - conceded one more game prior to icing the set with a love game and profiting from a rock-solid service game which won him 20 of 23 service points.
A tight battle in the second set saw neither play give up a service game as return points accounted for just 22 of the 105 match's points prior to the second set's tiebreak. Berrettini took the initiative early in the tiebreak and kept Griekspoor at arm's length, forcing a deciding third set after winning the tiebreak 7-2.
The third set started by largely following the same script as the first two with neither player showing mercy in their service games. Berrettini threatened to break Griekspoor in the third game with the Italian forcing just the second deuce of the match - Griekspoor would bounce back and quickly clinch the game, grabbing a 2-1 lead in the process.
Berrettini fought back and aced his way to a 2-2 tie with a 229kph service, showcasing his strength and durability after nearly two hours of game time. The Italian kept coming close to breaking Griekspoor but in a match with just two break points, Griekspoor held on.
Griekspoor proved very much to be unable to score any points in Berrettini's games as the Dutchman grabbed just two return points in a third set which would be decided through yet another tiebreak after Griekspoor couldn't match Berrettini's ruthless service game.
A voilent service showing kept Griekspoor in the driver's seat after opening the tiebreak and making crucial points in a tight battle. A fantastic sequence with two breaks iced the game for Griekspoor as he beat Berrettini 7-4 in an incredibly tight tiebreak.
Tsitsipas
A semi-finalist in Rotterdam last year, Griekspoor will meet Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the ABN AMRO Open after his first-round win Harold Mayot. The pair met once before when Tsitsipas swept Griekspoor 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a second-round matchup at the 2023 Australian Open.