Invited by the organizers of the Masters 1000 in Madrid, the Antwerp native did not deliver a bad first round against Luca Van Assche (ATP 99) on Wednesday. But overall, it lacked realism (only one break point converted out of eleven!). There was also a lot of waste at important moments.
After letting five break points escape in the first two opposing service games, Bergs lost in the opening set on the first opportunity that the Frenchman of Belgian origin had (6-4). In the process, the 19-year-old took off at the start of the second set (3-0). With courage and self-sacrifice, the Belgian managed to break his opponent at 4-2 and then get back to 4-4. The tie-break then turned largely to their advantage (0/7). Alas, in the deciding set, Bergs was too quickly down 4-0 and gave up the game definitively: 6-4, 6/7 (0/7), 6-1 in 2 hours 53 minutes.
This defeat will deprive Bergs of the top 100 but not of the status of Belgian n°1 which he will steal from David Goffin on May 6, the day after the final played in the Spanish capital.
