It's been a rollercoaster season for Zizou Bergs and the top Belgian got to experience the ups and downs in Tuesday's 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(8) fourth round victory over No. 31 seed Gabriel Diallo at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The 26-year-old Belgian dropped the opening set to the big-serving Canadian and after winning the second set to level the match, he went up 4-1 in the third, only to see Diallo claw his way back to 4-4. In the tie-break Bergs held two match points at 6-4, then after Diallo saved both match points, the Canadian went up 7-6 and 8-7. Bergs saved both match points and finished the 2-hour, 49-minute battle with a drop shot that Diallo netted on his third match point to improve to 4-0 in third-set tie-breaks this season.
"Well, probably the saving ones (match points) because it was on his serve," said Bergs when asked what is the most difficult, closing the match points or saving match points. "It's easier to finish a match while serving than trying to save the match while returning. But in the end it's really difficult. He doesn't give me any free points. All the match points I really had to go and look for it. So, in the end, you have to stay calm, but at the same time aggressive. Luckily, I managed to do that."
Bergs started off the season by reaching his maiden ATP Tour final in Auckland as a qualifier, losing to Gael Monfils. He advanced to the semi-finals in Marseille and in June he reached his second ATP Tour final in 's-Hertogenbosch, falling to Diallo. He compiled a 21-13 record but then struggled in the next three-and-a-half months with a 4-9 record coming into Shanghai. Bergs has equalled his four wins total by defeating Sebastian Korda, No. 11 seed Casper Ruud, No. 19 seed Francisco Cerundolo and No. 31 Diallo.
He changed coaches after his first round loss at Roland-Garros, splitting with countryman Kristof Vliegen and bringing on long-time German coach Jan de Witt, who along with Ruben Bemelmans, the head-coach of the Flaamish Federation in Belgium, works with Bergs.
"We had some time to figure out somethings and to reset a little bit physically, mentally we really took our time and stayed in the process even the results were not good and the quality of the game was not really good after the final in 's-hertogenbosch," said de Witt. "We were struggling in many areas but we never lost the process and we just kept going and kept pushing and I feel we are going in a good direction and he's ready to play much better tennis."
Bergs is on course to improve his year-end PIF ATP Ranking for a sixth straight season. He finished last year No. 71 with a 17-18 record and he's compiled a 29-23 record this season and is now up to a career-best No. 38 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings going into the quarter-finals against the winner of Jaume Munar and No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic.
"It means a lot and you probably saw it in my reaction," said Bergs, who fell to the ground after reaching his first quarter-final in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. "It's quite amazing and I feel like my trajectory is a little different, the speed of my path is different. I'm 26 and I'm reaching continuously my career high. I know it's not going to be only ups, and I've had my downs as well this year, but I'm really curious to see where my potential's going to bring me."
Bergs spoke about what the additon of de Witt to his team means.
"I think Jan is super experienced and he's super open minded," said Bergs. "He really understands me as a person, but also as an athlete. He knows what we need, how to develop. I think this is the core strength of our team is that really we have this DNA of trying to improve every day those one percents. I'm very keen to keep doing that together with this team."
The 26-year-old Belgian dropped the opening set to the big-serving Canadian and after winning the second set to level the match, he went up 4-1 in the third, only to see Diallo claw his way back to 4-4. In the tie-break Bergs held two match points at 6-4, then after Diallo saved both match points, the Canadian went up 7-6 and 8-7. Bergs saved both match points and finished the 2-hour, 49-minute battle with a drop shot that Diallo netted on his third match point to improve to 4-0 in third-set tie-breaks this season.
"Well, probably the saving ones (match points) because it was on his serve," said Bergs when asked what is the most difficult, closing the match points or saving match points. "It's easier to finish a match while serving than trying to save the match while returning. But in the end it's really difficult. He doesn't give me any free points. All the match points I really had to go and look for it. So, in the end, you have to stay calm, but at the same time aggressive. Luckily, I managed to do that."
Bergs started off the season by reaching his maiden ATP Tour final in Auckland as a qualifier, losing to Gael Monfils. He advanced to the semi-finals in Marseille and in June he reached his second ATP Tour final in 's-Hertogenbosch, falling to Diallo. He compiled a 21-13 record but then struggled in the next three-and-a-half months with a 4-9 record coming into Shanghai. Bergs has equalled his four wins total by defeating Sebastian Korda, No. 11 seed Casper Ruud, No. 19 seed Francisco Cerundolo and No. 31 Diallo.
He changed coaches after his first round loss at Roland-Garros, splitting with countryman Kristof Vliegen and bringing on long-time German coach Jan de Witt, who along with Ruben Bemelmans, the head-coach of the Flaamish Federation in Belgium, works with Bergs.
"We had some time to figure out somethings and to reset a little bit physically, mentally we really took our time and stayed in the process even the results were not good and the quality of the game was not really good after the final in 's-hertogenbosch," said de Witt. "We were struggling in many areas but we never lost the process and we just kept going and kept pushing and I feel we are going in a good direction and he's ready to play much better tennis."
Bergs is on course to improve his year-end PIF ATP Ranking for a sixth straight season. He finished last year No. 71 with a 17-18 record and he's compiled a 29-23 record this season and is now up to a career-best No. 38 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings going into the quarter-finals against the winner of Jaume Munar and No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic.
"It means a lot and you probably saw it in my reaction," said Bergs, who fell to the ground after reaching his first quarter-final in an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. "It's quite amazing and I feel like my trajectory is a little different, the speed of my path is different. I'm 26 and I'm reaching continuously my career high. I know it's not going to be only ups, and I've had my downs as well this year, but I'm really curious to see where my potential's going to bring me."
Bergs spoke about what the additon of de Witt to his team means.
"I think Jan is super experienced and he's super open minded," said Bergs. "He really understands me as a person, but also as an athlete. He knows what we need, how to develop. I think this is the core strength of our team is that really we have this DNA of trying to improve every day those one percents. I'm very keen to keep doing that together with this team."
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