David Goffin emerged victorious from the Belgian-Belgian duel which pitted him against Gilles Arnaud Bailly in the first round of the European Open, the ATP tournament in Antwerp, on Tuesday evening at the Lotto Arena. the Liégeois, 58th in the world, won in three tight sets 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 6-4 after 3 hours and 12 minutes of play against the young 17-year-old Belgian player, 2nd worldwide and 1185th in the ATP ranking.
Beneficiary of a wilcard for the final table of his very first ATP tournament, Gilles Arnaud Bailly was not impressed for his debut on the main circuit, and led 2-0 then 4-2 against the Belgian N.1. Goffin regained the lead at 5-4 and inherited two set points which he could not convert.
Bailly, finalist of Roland-Garros and the US Open juniors also found himself in a position to win the round at 6-5 but also wasted his set point, a set that would end in a tie-break. Goffin finally took the set on his 4th set point after 1h18 of play.
The Belgian N.1 continued by winning the first two games of the 2nd set, but saw his young opponent come back to 2-2 before leading 3-2. The round was hung again and Bailly converted his first set point to win 7-5 and return to a set everywhere.
David Goffin broke away at 5-3 in the third set and raced to win the match, which he concluded on his first match point.