Ranked 78, Van Assche wins his first tour title in Estoril after beating the top seed from a set down

Zero. That is how many ATP tour finals Luca Van Assche had reached before this week. The 22-year-old, ranked 78, won the Estoril Open on Sunday, beating Alexander Blockx 6-4 4-6 7-5 for his first tour title, in the first tour-level final of his career.

Van Assche's run to the title went through five matches and one seed at the very top of the draw. In the opening round he beat Frederico Ferreira Silva, ranked 235, 7-5 6-7(4) 6-1. In the second round it was Pablo Carreno Busta, the No. 8 seed and ranked 65, 6-3 4-6 6-2. The quarter-final brought Andrey Rublev, the No. 1 seed and ranked 14, and Van Assche beat him from a set down, 3-6 6-3 6-4. Hugo Gaston, ranked 109, followed in the semi-final, 6-4 7-5, before Alexander Blockx, the No. 4 seed and himself still chasing a first tour title, stood between Van Assche and the trophy.

The final turned on the third set. Van Assche broke in the first game and again in the third for a 3-0 lead, only for Blockx to break straight back and get to 3-1. Blockx kept clawing, breaking again to level at 5-5 in the tenth game, and the set was there to be taken by either. Van Assche broke back in the eleventh game to lead 6-5, then served out the match 7-5. He reached match point once, in that final game, and needed only the one.

The title is Van Assche's first at tour level, in the first final he has ever played on the ATP Tour. For Blockx, the No. 4 seed, it is a second final lost, after one before this week, and a first tour title still to find. The two had met once before, in the final of the Lille Challenger in February, a level below tour, and Van Assche won that one too, 6-2 6-4; he has now beaten Blockx in both their meetings, both finals. Van Assche's season record stands at 8-4, Blockx's at 14-7.

Match tale, 26 July 2026, sources: Estoril Open, api-tennis