ATP Tour

Bergs 'zones in' for home win in Brussels

Home favourite Zizou Bergs earned an opening win at the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open in Brussels on Tuesday evening, when he downed Brit Toby Samuel 6-3, 7-6(3) in front of a lively Belgian crowd.

Bergs earned the biggest victory of his career last week at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, where he defeated World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz and the Belgian star built on that against Samuel, producing a perfect tie-break in the second set to triumph in 88 minutes.

“I felt very happy to see you all,” Bergs said in his on-court interview. “I was a little bit distracted. I was like ‘I know that face, I know that face, I know that face’, so I had to zone in. That was important. I got a little bit tired. I feel the jet lag is a little bit in me still... I am really happy to walk on the court and have [this crowd] behind me.”

Bergs, who suffered a first-round exit at his home event in 2025, is chasing his second title of the season, having won in Eastbourne. The sixth seed will face Dino Prizmic or Damir Dzumhur in the second round in Brussels.

Earlier, Tallon Griekspoor earned just his second win in seven matches to reach the second round at the ATP 250 event for the first time, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The No. 60 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, a finalist in Dubai earlier this year, downed 19-year-old #NextGenATP German Max Schoenhaus 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 7-5. The Dutchman will next face eighth seed Mariano Navone, who beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo 7-6(10), 6-2.

Jan-Lennard Struff and Clement Chidekh also advanced on Day 2 in Brussels. German Struff overcame Marcos Giron 7-6(3), 7-6(3), while Frenchman Chidekh earned his first tour-level win with his 6-1, 6-4 victory against Botic van de Zandschulp.