Heading into the China Open on the back of a loss to Denis Shapovalov in Chengdu, Griekspoor was drawn against world No. 24 Andrey Rublev. The pair last met in Dubai in February, when the Dutchman beat Rublev in the semifinals.
In Beijing, Rublev dealt an early blow by breaking Griekspoor in the very first game and kept riding the wave to secure an opening-set win after fending off two break points in the latter stages.
The second set was hard-fought, and as Rublev edged closer in the closing stages, Griekspoor found renewed energy and swept the Russian with three aces and a forehand winner before going up 30-0 with a smashing winner. After Rublev swiftly came back to 40-30, Griekspoor swayed a spectacular rally. The two tussled, but Griekspoor needed only one advantage point to clinch the set.
The two stayed neck-and-neck in the final set, with neither player giving up many return points whatsoever - Griekspoor won just four of 26, while Rublev clinched 2 of 22 on first serve. It came down to a tiebreak that saw Rublev race to three match points, but Griekspoor won all three to level it.
The Dutchman lost a service point to give Rublev another match point, and the Russian former world number 5 capped it off with a winner to clinch a second-round ticket at the ATP 500 tournament.
Dutchmen done in Beijing
Earlier on Thursday, Botic van de Zandschulp crashed out of the China Open after a three-set loss to Francisco Cerundolo: 7-5, 4-6, 3-6.
The Dutchman started strong and jumped to a 5-2 lead in the first set, even getting three set points at 5-3. However, the Argentinian No. 22 of the world fought back with a break and came back to 5-5. In the end, Van de Zandschulp outlasted Cerundolo to clinch the set.
The second set was highlighted by missed opportunities on both sides - Van de Zandschulp and Cerundolo combined for 11 break points, of which only one was won. Van de Zandschulp tallied four break points in the opening game, but couldn't find a breakthrough as Cerundolo clinched what became the set decider with a single break point in the seventh game.
It was all Cerundolo in the third set, with the Argentinian forcing seven break points on the back of Van de Zandschulp's five double faults. Cerundolo broke Van de Zandschulp twice and dominated the Dutchman on his first serve (14/16) to clinch the set 6-3 and win the match.
