Goffin's Last Dance, Collignon vs Lehecka and Bergs at Home: Brussels Preview, 22 October 2026

The second round of the European Open in Brussels on 22 October belongs to the home players. Three Belgians take the indoor hard court in a single afternoon. Each carries a different story: a farewell, a comeback from injury, and a breakthrough that still has to prove it is more than one good night in Shanghai.

David Goffin is playing the last tournament of his career, and every match he wins postpones the goodbye. Raphael Collignon is back from a knee problem. Zizou Bergs comes home with an Alcaraz scalp and a body clock still somewhere over Asia. These are the three I want to talk about:

11:30 — Raphael Collignon — Jiri Lehecka
13:00 — David Goffin — Alex Michelsen
15:00 — Damir Dzumhur — Zizou Bergs

Times are UTC.

Raphael Collignon — Jiri Lehecka

Collignon came to Brussels short of matches and short of good news. Before this week he had lost four in a row. One of those defeats came in a fifth-set tie-break against a qualifier ranked outside the top 400, the kind of loss that stays with a player for a while.

The knee, he insists, is no longer the issue: "My knee is fully healed" (Starsporttv). What he lacked against Nishesh Basavareddy was rhythm. He dropped the opener 3-6, then let the crowd carry him through a 6-3 6-4 recovery. He treated the extra hour as useful practice rather than a burden, and I find that a healthy way to think about it.

Indoors this season, Collignon has been a different animal: 7-0 on indoor hard before this week. Lehecka is the wrong opponent for a man still finding his timing, though. He arrives from a Tokyo final he lost to Rafael Jodar 4-6 in the decider, and Brussels has been kind to him, with seven wins against two defeats at this event.

Their only meeting was at the 2025 US Open, third round, on hard. Lehecka won it in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 6-4, without much fuss. The question now is whether Collignon starts as hesitantly as he did on Tuesday. Against Basavareddy a slow start was affordable. Against Lehecka it may not be.

To my eye Lehecka is closer to the win, and the market agrees. Collignon at home indoors should still make at least one set uncomfortable, and +3.5 games for the Belgian looks decent to me. If he holds his nerve early, I wouldn't be surprised by a third set.

David Goffin — Alex Michelsen

There is something autumnal about this one. Goffin is 35 and winding down a long career. His ranking has drifted into the 400s, and his season before Brussels was a string of losses, including a 1-6 0-6 defeat to Clement Chidekh that would make anyone wonder why he keeps going.

Then Tuesday happened. Rémy Bertola's forehand pushed him around for a set, and Goffin looked every bit his age. Slowly he found depth and variation, survived a dangerous patch in the decider and won 3-6 6-3 6-4. Afterwards he was disarmingly honest: "I struggled with nerves at the beginning, but the support from the crowd was incredible!" (European Open).

Michelsen's opener was the opposite kind of evening. He dismissed Andrea Guerrieri 6-1 6-2 with heavy hitting and a crosscourt backhand that settled the one passage in which Guerrieri threatened. The American at 22 has a big hard-court season behind him, including a near-miss against Alcaraz in a decider and a five-set loss to Frances Tiafoe decided in a tie-break.

They have never met. Goffin cannot outhit Michelsen, so his only real route is the old one: change the height, move the ball side to side, and make the tall man play one more awkward shot. He also returns after an emotional evening match with doubles on the programme, and I have honest doubts about how much is left in the legs.

I expect Michelsen to win, most likely in straight sets. The crowd and Goffin's craft should keep the scoreline respectable, though, and Goffin at +5.5 games looks reasonable to me. A 6-4 type set is entirely possible if the farewell adrenaline lasts.

Damir Dzumhur — Zizou Bergs

Bergs beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-5 7-6(4) in Shanghai, and he is the first to keep that result in proportion. Against Toby Samuel on Tuesday he controlled the start, then had to escape real danger before closing in a tie-break. He admitted it was not a particularly good match.

He also admitted the trip had not quite left him: "I can still feel the jet lag" (Starsporttv). Home helps. He sleeps in his own bed and walks his dog between matches, which sounds like a small thing until you have spent weeks in hotels.

Dzumhur, at 34, is running on a title week in Olbia and a long opener here. Against Dino Prizmic he came back from a deficit in the first-set tie-break, lost the second 2-6 and then took the decider 6-2 with real authority. Whether his body has recovered from all that tennis in a short span is the question nobody can answer yet.

They have never met, and the contrast is clear. Bergs brings first strike and weight of shot. Dzumhur is the smaller, crafty grinder who keeps the ball in play and waits for an opponent's patience to crack. His record at this tournament, Bergs' 4-8, is a reminder that home soil has not always been easy for him.

Bergs is closer to the win, and if Dzumhur's legs are heavy it could be quick. The margin is where I hesitate. Bergs has not yet played a clean match this week, and Dzumhur at +4.5 games has some appeal if the first set turns into a scrap. Much depends on which of them is more tired after the first half hour.

Goffin's farewell, Collignon's knee and Bergs' body clock

Brussels has handed itself a Belgian afternoon, and it may not end well for all three. My main questions are simple: whether Goffin has one more emotional comeback in him, whether Collignon can start sharply against a man who loves this event, and whether Bergs' confidence outlasts his jet lag. If I could watch only one, it would be Goffin, because there may not be another.

These are my impressions, built on stories as much as on numbers. The AI cappers go further on the match pages, where they get specific about each of these three matches.