Auger-Aliassime, Lehecka Set Up Enticing Brussels Title Match

Felix Auger-Aliassime
Felix Auger-Aliassime (photo: Belga/David Pintens)

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON, October 19, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

A day after No. 3 seed Jiri Lehecka reached the 40-victory plateau at the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open in Brussels, Felix Auger-Aliassime also garnered his 40th triumph this season. It’s the second time for the World No. 13 from Canada. The first time was three year ago, during a break-out 60-win season in 2022, when he qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals – and coincidentally, Auger-Aliassime also won the European Open indoor crown that same year.

Could the recently-married, 25-year-old Auger-Aliassime become the only repeat champion of this ATP 250 indoor hardcourt event, which moved to the Belgium capital city this year following a nine-year run in Antwerp? Maybe. Stay tuned. He’ll be facing Lehecka, 23, who will be appearing in his second-straight European Open title match after dispatching 37th-ranked and No. 5 seed Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard of France, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7) – and hoping to become the 10th different winner in the tournament’s 10th anniversary edition.

On Saturday evening, before a raucous crowd of more than 6,000 partisans fans that filled the Palais 12 Centre Court at Brussels Expo, Auger-Aliassime ended the remarkable and emotional run of 90th-ranked Belgian wild card Raphael Collignon, who was clearly the fan favorite and soaked up the atmosphere throughout the duration of his one-hour, 46 minute second semifinal with the No. 2 seed.

Auger-Aliassime improved his 2025 win-loss record to 40-20 with his 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over Collignon, who was appearing in his first ATP Tour semifinal and at 23-years-old, represents a bright future for Belgian tennis. Now, the Canadian No. 1 is through to his fourth final of the season – all on hard courts – and will be going after his third title to go along with earlier ones won in Adelaide and Montpellier. 

With both of Belgium’s most-recognizable players, 39th-ranked Zizou Bergs and 105th-ranked wild card David Goffin, eliminated in the opening round, Collignon carried his country’s fortunes on the broad shoulders of his 6-foot-3-inch frame without any fear or hesitation all week long. He beamed a big smile each time he hit an impressive winner against Auger-Aliassime just as he had during victories over Bergs, No. 68 Francisco Comesana of Argentina and World No. 20 and fourth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain earlier in the week. His victory over Davidovich Fokina was his third Top-20 triumph this season.

Auger-Aliassime set up his semifinal win with his eighth service ace of the match and secured the victory on his first match-point opportunity with a solid forehand winner – his 31st winner overall and the 19th that came from his forehand side. He won 78 percent (40 of 51) of his first-serve points, faced no break points and broke Collignon’s serve once in three tries. It came in the fifth game of the second set, which gave Auger-Aliassime a 3-2 lead at the time. From there, he served out the victory.

All was good between the two competitors as they shared a polite handshake and both smiled as they walked off the court together. Soon, Collignon received a standing ovation from the crowd as he smiled and waved walking off the court after hitting 19 winners against Auger-Aliassime while committing just 17 unforced errors, eight fewer than the Canadian No. 1.

“The challenge is every day – trust me – and today was no different,” said Auger-Aliassime during his on-court interview with former Belgian pro Sabine Appelmans. “I had a great opponent in front of me. He was inspired by playing at home. I knew it was going to be, maybe, the toughest challenge of the week so far. He’s been playing great for the last few weeks – the last month – and he has a great future for him and a great future for Belgian tennis.”

Collignon, who will break into the ATP Top 75 next week, will receive a special exemption to play at the upcoming Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland. His first-round opponent will be Shanghai finalist Arthur Rinderknech of France.

“I am disappointed because I would have liked to go further and I felt that there was room in terms of level,” Collignon said during his post-match news conference, translated from French. “He’s a great player and he played a great game, but I wasn’t that far away. That said, it’s a beautiful journey, and I have to keep the positive of this week to continue building on it.”

Auger-Aliassime gave props to Collignon and to Belgian tennis, too, saying: “We saw many great Dutch players this week. It was [a] fun [match] to play, high intensity. It was a pleasure for me to be a part of that and to be a part of this week of tennis. 

“There’s one more day tomorrow. I hope I’ll have you on my side.”

Auger-Aliassime currently sits in ninth place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin with 3,070 points. He trails No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy by 415 points for the eighth and final qualification spot.

Lehecka reaches third ATP Tour final of season

In the opening semifinal match, Lehecka reached his sixth ATP Tour final – and third one of 2025 after Brisbane and Queen’s Club – with his straight-set victory over Mpetshi Perricard in an hour and 29 minutes. He joined Diego Schwartzman (2016-17, 2021) as the only players to reach multiple European Open finals after losing to Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in last year’s title match.

Lehecka improved to 15-1 versus players outside of the Top 20 since July with his victory over Mpetshi Perricard, which he secured on his second match-point opportunity. It came after he failed to convert his first, ahead 6-5, during the second-set tie break. Lehecka saved a set point while down 6-7, then reeled off the last three points of the semifinal to advance.  Lehecka’s lone loss came earlier this month in the fourth round at Shanghai against Rinderknech.

“It’s always very tough to prepare for these kinds of matches,” Lehecka said during his on-court, post-match interview after improving his 2025 win-loss record to 41-19, which includes one title victory in Brisbane at the start of the season. “You just need to be focused on every point. You just don’t know what is coming. Giovanni is such a good server. For me, the most important thing was to stay focused on my own service games and to wait for your chances. It’s never very easy but I’m very happy I stayed focused and played very well in both tie-breaks.”

Now, Lehecka is through to Sunday’s title match after a successful week, in which he’s defeated 247th-ranked Belgian qualifier Gilles Arnaud Bailly, No. 53 Benjamin Bonzi of France and Mpetshi Perricard. While the 6-foot-7-inch Mpetshi Perricard advanced to the last four with an upset of the World No. 8 and top-seeded Musetti on Friday, he was unable to sustain the momentum from his quarterfinal triumph against the Czech No. 1 on Saturday.

Lehecka struck 28 winners – including 11 aces – and made just seven unforced errors. He won 92 percent (44 of 48) of his first-serve points, dropping just four points and faced no break points. By comparison, Mpetshi Perricard finished with 36 winners – firing 19 aces – and won 83 percent (55 of 66) of his first-serve points. He saved both break points he faced. Lehecka outpointed Mpetshi Perricard 80-68.

“It means a lot [to be back in the final],” Lehecka said. “We’ll see how it goes. For me, before the tournament, this was one of my goals – to be in the final, again.”

Auger-Aliassime added: “I’ve had great memories [in Belgium] in the past. Another final and, now, it’s a another chance to play for another title. You don’t get to play these kinds of matches every week, every day of the year. So, there’s only a few finals in the year and you try to make the most out of them. 

“I’m really happy with my levels so far. Hopefully, I [can] win the title. Jiri is a tough opponent and he’s beaten me in the past. We’ll see how it goes. It’s going to be a good one.”

Around the Brussels Expo

The top two seeded teams, No. 1 seeds Hugo Nys of Monaco and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France and No. 2 seeds Christian Harrison and Evan King of the United States, will meet Sunday in the doubles final. 

Nys and Roger-Vasselin have compiled a 37-18 win-loss record this season and recently won the title at Tokyo. They were also finalists in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Harrison and King have won two titles this season – at Dallas and Acapulco – and were finalists in another at Delray Beach in compiling a 38-22 win-loss record this season. 

In their only previous meeting, earlier this year in the quarterfinal round at Acapulco in February, Harrison and King won in straight sets.

Saturday’s European Open results

Sunday’s European Open order of play

By the numbers

After playing in last year’s final, Jiri Lehecka joins Diego Schwartzman (2016-17, 2021) as the only men to reach multiple finals in the event’s history. 

“Quotable …”

• “I had a great opponent in front of me and he was inspired by playing at home. I knew it could be the toughest challenge of the week so far. He has been playing great for the past few weeks and months. It was really fun to play, high intensity. It was a pleasure to be a part of that and this week and we have one more to go tomorrow.”

– No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, during his on-court interview, after defeating Raphael Collignon of Belgium to advance to Sunday’s final.

• “The week was great, I beat some very good players at home, while managing the pressure of the event. Last year, I was completely missed. This time, I proved that I could control it and stand up to very good players. The balance sheet is, therefore, very positive, even if you always want to do better and I had opportunities today. But I’m proud of the way I played.”

– Raphael Collignon of Belgium, during his post-match news conference (translated from French), after losing to No. 2 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

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