The 24-year-old Limburger, 103rd in the world, just returned from his victory at the Challenger 75 tournament in Tallahassee, Florida, benefited from a wild card. Bergs lost in three sets to Frenchman Luca Van Assche, 99th in the world, born in Woluwé-Saint-Lambert almost 20 years ago (May 4): 6-4, 6/7 (0/7), 6- 1. The duel lasted 2h53.
After letting five break points escape in the first two opponent's service games, Bergs lost the first set on the first break point that the Frenchman obtained (6-4).
Gaining confidence, Van Assche managed a break at the start of the second set (3-0). At 3-1, Zizou Bergs missed two opportunities to erase his break behind. He made it 4-2 and tied it at 4-4. In the decisive game, the Limburger showed himself to be intractable (0/7).
The third set turned to the advantage of Van Assche who immediately signed a double break (4-0).
The Frenchman won their first meeting in the 1st round of the Amersfoort Challenger in the Netherlands 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on July 12, 2022.
In the 2nd round of this Open with 7,877,020 euros in prize money, Van Assche will challenge the Argentinian Sebastian Baez, 19th in the world, exempt from the first round thanks to his seeded status.
Following his defeat in the first round of Madrid qualifying, David Goffin will fall in the ATP rankings and will be overtaken by Bergs. He had already briefly occupied the place of Belgian N.1 this year between January 29 and February 18.
