Zizou Bergs earned the biggest win of his career Tuesday to give Belgium a 1-0 lead against Canada at the United Cup. Elise Mertens then sealed the tie for their country with a victory against Victoria Mboko.
Despite winning the tie, the Belgians need a clean sweep to guarantee it will advance out of Group B. If Canada wins mixed doubles, then it advances to the knockout rounds.
First inside Ken Rosewall Arena, the 26-year-old Bergs upset World No. 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-2.
“Really happy with the performance. I think this shows also our strength we have. We can fall down, but we will get back up and try to be better [than] we were the day before,” Bergs said. “This is what we do, and I’m also very thankful to have that team around me.”
Bergs claimed his second Top-10 victory (2-10) in one hour and 28 minutes, having also defeated then-World No. 9 Andrey Rublev 10 months ago in Miami. A Belgian man had never previously earned a win at the United Cup.
“I actually forgot this was my second Top-10 win, so that’s really huge, actually, especially with a convincing way of playing,” Bergs said. “I just looked at it as a match. This is a a little different format, so we’re still down. We still have to win a lot of matches today, so that was more the focus and today I just had to get the job done.”
Auger-Aliassime enjoyed the best season of his career in 2025, reaching the US Open semi-finals and competing in the Nitto ATP Finals. He looked sharp in his first match of the season against Zhang, but was unable to dominate the same way against Bergs, who saved all five break points he faced.
Watch Highlights from the Women’s Singles Match
Experience beat youth in the second match of the day when Mertens beat Mboko 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Her two-hour, five-minute triumph put Belgium on the brink of the quarter-finals.
After coming from a set behind to defeat China’s Zhu Lin in her opening match of the week, there was no similar escape for the 19-year-old Mboko against Mertens.
The Belgian rode a stellar serving performance to a one-set lead, holding at love in each of her first four service games and breaking Mboko decisively to love in the sixth game as well. Though Mboko showed the fighting spirit that earned her 15 three-set wins in 2025 on the way to being crowned the WTA Tour Newcomer of the Year to push the match the distance, she was unable to create any break point chances in the decider either.
Mertens earned the decisive break of serve in the fourth game from a 30/0 deficit, and won a staggering 93 per cent of points played behind her first serve overall.
“I’m absolutely pumped … I’m very happy with the point for Belgium,” Mertens said. “Also well played to my opponent. She’s up and coming, she’s really young — she’s more than 10 years younger than me!
“I’m most proud of how I [started] the beginning of the third set. I really wanted to get that point, and of course, I had the team behind me. I got a little bit of experience already, but of course you always feel a little bit nervous. That’s the game, tennis, a lot of emotions, but I’m very pleased about [the win].”