Luca Van Assche secured his first career title on the ATP main circuit, winning the ATP 250 Estoril Open on Sunday 26 July. The world No. 78 defeated Belgium's Alexander Blockx, ranked 38th, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in a final lasting 2 hours 24 minutes on the clay courts of Portugal.

A rollercoaster final

The match began with an unusual sequence of five consecutive service breaks. Van Assche was the first to hold, moving ahead 4-2 and eventually securing the first set 6-4 after a Blockx error. The Frenchman then broke immediately to start the second set, racing to a 2-0 lead. Blockx responded by taking the ball earlier and varying his play, winning the next four games and closing out the set 6-4 on another Van Assche mistake.

In the decisive third set, Van Assche once again jumped to an early advantage, building a 3-0 lead with a double break. Blockx clawed back to 3-2, and a tense stalemate followed. The Belgian fought off the Frenchman's first attempt to close the match at 5-4, but Van Assche held firm and claimed victory in the twelfth game, after Blockx had levelled at 5-5.

“I love playing in Portugal. I won my first Challenger tournament there, my first ATP title. Maybe you should organise a Masters 1000 or a Grand Slam.”

French tennis continues strong run

Van Assche's triumph caps a strong weekend for French tennis. On Saturday, Quentin Halys won the ATP 250 in Kitzbühel, also his first main circuit title. Van Assche becomes the third Frenchman to win an ATP tournament this season, following Arthur Fils' victory in Barcelona in April and Halys' success in Austria.

“It was an incredible week for me. I started on Monday with a 3h30 match. I'm happy.”

Rankings boost for both finalists

As a result of his victory, Van Assche will enter the ATP top 50 for the first time on Monday, rising to 48th in the world. The 22-year-old, who won the Roland Garros junior title in 2021, achieved the breakthrough five years after that junior success. He also becomes the fifth-ranked French player on the ATP tour.

Runner-up Alexander Blockx, one of the revelations of the first half of the season after starting the year at 115th, will rise to a career-high 32nd. The 21-year-old from Antwerp was contesting his first ATP final and had survived two match points in the second round against Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet, and an improbable comeback against Italy's Luciano Darderi, the No. 2 seed, before running out of energy in the title match.

Van Assche (before)78

Van Assche (after)48

Blockx (before)38

Blockx (after)32

Van Assche (before)

78 ATP rank

Van Assche (after)

48 ATP rank

Blockx (before)

38 ATP rank

Blockx (after)

32 ATP rank

Data from the article text

Van Assche's path to the title

En route to the final, Van Assche had notably knocked out top seed Andrey Rublev (world No. 14) in the quarter-finals, a victory that underlined his level throughout the week. He began the tournament with a marathon 3-hour-30-minute opening match against Portugal's Frederico Ferreira Silva. The Belgian-born Frenchman, who also won his first Challenger title in Maia, Portugal, in 2022, now has his name on an ATP trophy in the same country.