BNP Paribas Fortis European Open: Struff through to semi-finals

Arthur Fils played his first match of the week on Friday evening and it took him straight into the semifinals of the Brussels ATP 250. The top seed beat Alex Michelsen of the United States, the No. 5 seed, 6-4, 7-6 (12). He will face Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, who knocked out No. 6 seed Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-6 (6) to end Belgian hopes in the singles draw.

Fils, 22 and ranked No. 10, is the top seed at an ATP Tour event for the first time. He arrived in Brussels on Sunday but did not play until Friday: after a first-round bye, he received a walkover when Spain’s Jaume Munar pulled out.

He served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but was broken. He then took a 14-12 tiebreak against Michelsen in their first meeting.

“I’m very happy to finish in two sets, even if I would have liked to close it out on my serve at 5-4. But these things happen,” Fils said, quoted in L’Equipe. “I hadn’t played a match for a long time, there was a bit of tension, a bit of rushing. But I think we put on a good show for the fans. The tiebreak was pretty cool.”

It had honestly never happened to me.

He admitted the long wait had felt strange. “It had honestly never happened to me. I played straight away against a very good opponent who had more matches in his legs than me. I arrived a bit without reference points, and he started well, I didn’t. So I asked myself quite a few questions at that moment. In the end I play one match and I’m in the semifinals, so that’s not so bad either.”

Fils reaches his 16th ATP Tour semifinal and his sixth of the season, his first indoors since Basel in 2024. The win lifts him past Frances Tiafoe into seventh in the Race to Turin. Michelsen, ranked No. 37, had beaten Italian qualifier Andrea Guerrieri 6-1, 6-2 and ended David Goffin’s career 6-3, 6-4.

Struff, 36, keeps going

Struff, ranked No. 58, beat Bergs for the second time in three meetings. At 36 years and 5 months, he becomes the second-oldest semifinalist in the history of the European Open, behind Roberto Bautista Agut, who won the title in 2024 at 36 years and 6 months. He is also only the second German to reach the last four here, after Maximilian Marterer in 2023.

The German had beaten American Marcos Giron 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) and Belgian lucky loser Gauthier Onclin 6-4, 6-2. He reaches his 15th ATP Tour semifinal and his first on hard courts since Sofia in 2023.

Bergs, ranked No. 41 and the Eastbourne champion this year, had beaten Britain’s Toby Samuel 6-3, 7-6 (3) and Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2, 6-4. His defeat leaves no Belgian in the singles semifinals of the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open, a day after Goffin played the last match of his career.