Collignon vs Lehecka: A Home Comeback Meets the Brussels Second Seed

The European Open in Brussels has an unusually emotional week. David Goffin is playing his farewell tournament, and the indoor hard courts are full of home voices. Into that warm room steps a second-round match between Raphael Collignon, ranked 55th and only just back from a knee problem, and second seed Jiri Lehecka, ranked 20th, who opens his campaign after a first-round bye. The intrigue is about timing: one man is still rebuilding his rhythm, while the other has tested his recent form across Asia and has to show it again in a new building.

Collignon: A Knee Healed, a Rhythm Still Arriving

Collignon's recent absence was not an ordinary scheduling gap. His knee became harder to manage during the American swing, so he stepped away and missed the Asian tournaments. Steve Darcis summed up the team's position simply: “his health comes first.” The difficult results before Brussels should be read with that in mind, because some of them came while he was carrying a physical limitation.

The last match before the break left a bruise. At the US Open he held match points against Sebastian Gorzny, could not close, and watched Gorzny survive on brave serving until the match ended on a Collignon double fault. That memory belongs in the story. One painful evening in New York, though, does not make a pattern of collapse.

His Brussels opener against qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy was a better chapter. He lost his service rhythm in the first set, fell behind early in the second and recovered the break. In the decider an early lead slipped away, and he broke again and converted his first match point. It was not fluent tennis, but it was the tennis of a man who keeps finding the path when the fog comes down.

Collignon himself was honest about the rust. He said that jumping straight back into match rhythm after the layoff was hard. He also called the long contest a gift rather than a burden, because it gave him minutes on court and restored his confidence. Basavareddy had already played through qualifying and knew the conditions, so Collignon had to solve the match rather than simply impose himself.

The physical updates came in two steps. On October 15 he said his movement was free but serving still carried a limitation. After the October 20 win he was more reassuring: “My knee is completely recovered.” That is the latest word, and it should take precedence, although one extended match cannot show how the knee and the serve respond as tournament load builds up.

His mood looks constructive. He says he is not thinking about the points he has to defend and treats simply being here as a bonus. His family was in the stands, and he credited the fans with turning the match around. He is also playing doubles alongside Goffin, which adds court time and a little extra emotion to a week that hardly needed more of either.

Lehecka: A Serve Built on Baseline Confidence

Lehecka's Tokyo semifinal against Valentin Vacherot showed his ceiling. SuperTennis described it as close to perfection: his service games were airtight, and Vacherot never found a way to disturb his control. It was serving authority and baseline confidence arriving together, like weather that finally settles after a changeable week.

Lehecka explained the link himself. “The improvements of recent weeks, including from the baseline, give me more confidence when serving,” he said. His serve is not working alone; trust in the next ball is feeding it. The Tokyo final against Carlos Alcaraz was described as gritty, and Alcaraz called it his own most consistent performance of the week, so it was no collapse.

Shanghai added shading. Against Nuno Borges he broke early and protected the lead, lost the middle set after one loose service game, then reset and won the decider. It was not seamless, but it showed he can recover his level after losing his grip on a match.

The Rafael Jodar match is the real caution. Lehecka's serve and forehand gave him the early initiative, but he missed a late opening in the second set, lost the tie-break and wasted early chances on Jodar's serve in the decider before a late break settled it. El País described his heavy shot-making alongside mounting errors and visible exasperation. Jodar praised his very fast ball, which makes the point clearly: Lehecka never lacked weapons. The problem was what to do when they did not finish the job.

Calling him fragile would be unfair, though. In the Davis Cup against Ben Shelton he protected his serve, handled a demanding closing game and called it one of his best feelings on a tennis court. He deliberately refused to treat that match as an obligation to repair the team's earlier result. Physically, no injuries have been reported, and his last match was on October 12, so he arrives without any first-round exertion here.

The Key: Surviving the First Wave

The tactical picture is fairly clear. Lehecka's serve-plus-forehand combination is a connected strength right now, so for Collignon the quality of the return matters more than simply lengthening the rallies. A return that lands short invites the first strike. A deep one forces Lehecka to play one more meaningful ball, and Shanghai showed that this is where his patience can fray.

That Jodar blueprint is a suggestion, not a promise. It shows a route through Lehecka's aggression, but nothing in the reports says Collignon can execute it the way Jodar did. I find myself unsure here: it depends on how quickly Collignon's timing returns and how freely he can swing on serve and the follow-up shot.

Collignon's service action is the main physical checkpoint. It was the last limitation he named before the tournament, and the useful sign will not be the odd big delivery. It will be whether he serves and plays the next ball without any visible accommodation. On a quick indoor hard court, holds come cheaply for the man serving freely and dearly for the man who is not.

The emotional currents matter as well. Collignon's opener showed that a lost lead need not set his direction, and the Brussels crowd can lift him after a bad passage, even if it cannot cure rust or discomfort. Lehecka has to keep his shot selection patient if returns keep coming back, and both men will be judged on how they respond to missed chances. In the end, this is rhythm against rust, played under a very loud roof.