Meanwhile in Estoril, 2021 Roland-Garros boys’ singles champion Van Assche also earned a top-50 debut by clinching the first title of his career with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 performance against Alexander Blockx.
The 22-year-old Van Assche started his week in Portugal by grinding through a three-hour 26-minute opening round victory against local wildcard Frederico Ferreira Silva, which set the tone for a series of hard-fought wins for the Frenchman.
Four of his five victories in Estoril went to three sets, including triumphs over Pablo Carreno Busta and tournament top seed Andrey Rublev.
“Super, super happy, super proud, of course, of my week. It was a crazy week from the beginning to the end with so difficult matches. So, yeah, I’m so happy to win the title here. I was not expecting that, of course, one week ago. So, yeah, I’m just so relieved,” Van Assche told Tennis TV after the final.
Van Assche squandered a 5-3 lead in the decider to but held his nerve to close out the win and become the 10th first-time winner on the ATP Tour this season.
“It was tough conditions today, also with a lot of wind. And yeah, first final is never easy,” he explained.
“I had a little bit of difficulties at the beginning to serve. So, yeah, I just adapt on it. And yeah, I just found solutions and I tried to keep with this. And yeah, at the end, of course, there was a lot of tension, but I’m happy with how I managed the end of the match.”
Van Assche’s latest triumph is the continuation of a love affair with Portugal, having previously claimed his first Challenger title and first ATP match-win on Portuguese soil.
“You should organise a Masters or a Slam,” joked Van Assche during his victory speech.