Bailly Bows In European Open First Round But Leaves Antwerp A Winner

Gilles Arnaud Bailly
Gilles-Arnaud Bailly (photo: European Open/Belga)

ANTWERP/WASHINGTON, October 16, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Gilles-Arnaud Bailly walked out onto Lotto Arena’s Center Court Wednesday afternoon to a warm welcome from Belgian fans, who flocked to watch one of Belgium’s brightest young tennis stars play at the ATP 250 European Open in Antwerp this week. It’s fitting it was Kids Day at the tournament.

While it was not Bailly’s first time on Center Court in an ATP Tour match, it’s been a while since the last one. That’s because he played his lone ATP Tour match against Belgium’s top player, David Goffin, in the same tournament as a wild card back in 2022. Ranked No. 1185 at the time, Bailly, then 17, lost to Goffin, ranked 58th, 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-4. However, he made a tremendous impression on everyone — including tournament director Dick Norman.

Fast forward to 2024, and after getting some seasoning — both on the ITF World Tennis Tour and playing collegiate tennis in the United States at the University of Texas — the 869th-ranked Bailly earned another opportunity to play at the European Open. He’s one of four Belgians (along with Zizou Bergs, Alexander Blockx and Raphael Collignon) featured in the 28-player main draw of the indoor hard-court event.

The 19-year-old qualifier from Hasselt, Belgium, a former World No. 1 junior champion, acquitted himself well during his week on the ATP Tour in his home-country tournament. After all, he won two qualifying draw matches, defeating No. 123 Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France on Sunday, 7-6 (7), 6-3, for the biggest win of career. Then, Bailly followed it with another strong performance against No. 318 Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, a former Top-20 player, winning 7-6 (4), 6-1.

While Bailly lost his first-round match, 6-4, 6-3, to 26-year-old German Daniel Altmaier, ranked 84th, in which he was unable to take advantage of four break points at 3-all in the first set and made more unforced errors (18) than hit winners (12), at times he showed flashes of good form and fight during his 76-minute Center Court main-draw match.

By the end, Altmaier (16 aces, 28 winners) outpointed Bailly 63-47 to advance to Thursday’s second round against 33rd-ranked No. 5 seed Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic.

Although understandably disappointed by Wednesday’s result, Bailly proved there will be better days ahead for him. “This gives me confidence for the future,” he said afterward, in his post-match interview with tournament media (translated into English).

“It’s a shame I couldn’t use the break points in the first set. Too bad about the defeat but my three [matches] do give me confidence that I can handle this level.”

For Bailly, it’s back to the ITF and M15 tournaments, where he believes if he performs well on that level — he’s 40-31 lifetime against ITF competition, including a pair of 2023 titles won on clay in Antalya, Turkey, and Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy — his ranking will take care of itself. Bailly reached a career-high ranking of No. 468 last November.

In the meantime, Bailly said he would get medical treatment on his problem shins before deciding on his schedule foe the remainder of the 2024 season.

Looking back, Bailly said he’s “super content” with his latest European Open experience. “I’ve been playing better for several weeks,” he admitted, after recently reaching the quarterfinals in Santa Margherita di Pula. “To beat two very good opponents and now playing an exciting match against a Top-100 [player] gives me a lot of confidence.”

De Minaur wins first match since US Open

World No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia, playing for the time since the US Open after injuring his hip, showed some rust for the first set and a half against hard-hitting No. 54 Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain in a featured Wednesday evening match on Center Court.

However, as the second-round tussle wore on, de Minaur caught his second wind — looking fit and moving well — and showed why it’s never a good thing to count him out.

De Minaur prevailed over Carballes Baena, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, in two hours and 18 minutes to advance to the quarterfinal round on Friday. The 25-year-old Aussie converted four of seven break points and hit 24 winners, which overcame 31 unforced errors. He was outpointed 83-82 by the Spaniard.

“It’s never easy to come back from an injury or after not playing for a long time,” de Minaur said in his on-court interview, after collecting his 41st win of the season. “I’m happy I was able to win today. It took a lot of fight and effort and I’m happy to get a first win in Antwerp.”

De Minaur is playing as a No. 1 seed on the ATP Tour for just the second time in career — the first time he won the ‘s-Hertogenbosch title in June. The 2020 Antwerp finalist is a firm believer that a match is never over until the last point. “That’s what I tell myself always,” he said, “I’m always going to compete until the very end and it’s helped me win a lot of matches. I better keep doing it.  

“I think as the match went on, I felt my rhythm — my level — became a little bit more aggressive. I did what I needed to do to get the win today. I’m very happy and, hopefully, I can build on this and next match play even better.”

On Friday, de Minaur will play No. 77 Hugo Gaston of France, who upset No. 7 seed Mariano Navone of Argentina, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), in two hours and 49 minutes on Court 1.

Bautista Agut becomes oldest European Open quarterfinalist

At age 36 and six months, Roberto Bautista Agut has become the oldest singles quarterfinalist in tournament history. The 60th-ranked Spaniard upset No. 6 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina, 7-6 (2), 6-4, in an hour and 50 minutes on Center Court Wednesday afternoon. He bettered the record previously held by Richard Gasquet (36 years, four months) set two years ago.

Bautista Agut won 81 percent of his service points and converted two of four break-point opportunities. After squandering a 4-1 lead in the opening set, he recovered well to win it in a tie-break 7-2. Then, he broke Etcheverry on his second try in the fifth game of the second set for a 3-2 lead and dropped only one point in his final three service games. Bautista Agut closed out the victory with his 18th winner, a solid forehand that zoomed past Etcheverry.

Bautista Agut outpointed his opponent 74-57, which included winning 21 points on returns off Etcheverry’s second serve, to collect his 21st win of the season in 40 matches. It moved him into his third quarterfinal of 2024 — his first indoors since 2022 at Basel.

“I had to play very good to beat Tomas; he’s a great player,” Bautista Agut said during his on-court interview. “I served well, I made him play under pressure with the second serve. It was a good match for me. I’m very happy to be in the quarterfinals.”

Next, Bautista Agut will face No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, ranked 21st, who recovered from losing a first-set tie-break against No. 93 Marton Fucsovics of Hungary, and pulled out a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 victory in two hours and 34 minutes that ended just before midnight Wednesday night.

Auger-Aliassime overcame 42 unforced errors with 34 winners, including 13 aces, and outpointed Fucsovics 108-99.

“I’m happy with my performance,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview. “It was a hard-fought match. [Marton] is a great player. He’s had many good wins over his career. My goal today was just to be mentally present and to try play every point. It was a tough match. Mentally, I think I did well to stay calm and stay composed until the end.”

Around the European Open

In doubles, unseeded Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands and Andres Molteni of Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals after top seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany were forced to retire due to injury after winning the opening set 6-1 and trailing 0-2 in the second set. The match lasted just 31 minutes.

Also, unseeded Robin Haase and David Pel of the Netherlands upset defending champions Stefanos and Petros Tsitsipas of Greece, 6-3, 6-4, in 63 minutes. The Dutch duo outpointed the Tsitsipas brothers 58-45 in advancing to the last eight.

Meanwhile, also advancing to the quarterfinals following first-round wins were: unseeded Robert Galloway of the United States and Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan, who defeated unseeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and John Peers of Australia, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 14-12; and No. 4 seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Adam Pavlesek of the Czech Republic, who beat Belgian wild cards Alexander Blockx and Raphael Collignon, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Wednesday’s European Open results

Thursday’s European Open order of play

By the numbers

No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, the only former champion in the draw, is 48-13 on indoor hard courts since the start of 2022 season (including 13-1 in opening rounds). All five of his career ATP Tour titles have come indoors, including three titles in three weeks in 2022 at Florence, Antwerp and Basel.

“Quotable …”

“I initially felt quite nervous. That was not because of the audience but mainly of a difference in equipment choice and my racquet. So, it had mainly to do with external factors.

“I also came to the net more today. It is important to play forward, but on the right ball. I want to constantly improve myself.”

— No. 69 Zizou Bergs of Belgium, English translation from his Tuesday evening press conference after advancing to the second-round with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Facundo Diaz Acosta.

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