Raphael Collignon shocks Alex de Minaur at Davis Cup | ATP Journey

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Belgium Collignon Stuns de Minaur leads Australia 2-0 in Davis Cup

Germany’s overall victory over Japan in R2 qualifiers

September 13, 2025

Belgium has taken the brink of an impressive victory in the second round of the Davis Cup qualifiers after a brilliant performance by Raphael Collignon and Zizou Bergs in Sydney on Saturday.

The No. 91 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Collignon upset World No. 8 and hometown favourite Alex de Minaur 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 inside Ken Rosewall Arena to give his country a perfect start in its bid for a spot at November’s Davis Cup Final 8. The 23-year-old Collignon appeared to have lost momentum after a bright opening set in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with De Minaur, but he dug deep and struggled with cramps to earn the top ten of his career.

Belgium’s Raphael Collignon’s hard work beat Australia’s Alex de Minaur to give his country a 1-0 lead#daviscup pic.twitter.com/ez9guumuy2

— Davis Cup (@daviscup) September 13, 2025

“I don’t think there’s any pain when you play for your country.” Collignon also beat Casper Ruud at the U.S. Open in his on-field interview. “We always have great players, which is incredible for a small country like us.”

Later, Bergs sank Jordan Thompson 7-6 (4), winning the perfect day in Belgium 6-4. Belgium, including three-time Davis Cup finalists in 2015 and 2017, will now set out to end the victory on Saturday when the experienced doubles duo won against John Peers and Rinky Hijikata.

“It feels great for the team,” Bergers said of Thompson’s victory. “We did a great job today, but we don’t have the end.”

Germany locations in Bologna
Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz added the final step to Tokyo’s dominant performance, where the two stars beat Yosuke Watanuki and Takeru Yuzuki 6-3, 7-6 (4) to beat Japan’s victory over Japan and their position in the final 8th match.

Krawetz and Puetz won their 18th victory in the 19 Davis Cup Rubbers after Jan-Lennard Struff and Yannick Hanfmann won their singles win on Friday to ensure Germany will compete in Bologna, with the final eight games set to take place from November 18-23. Justin Engel then prevailed his Davis Cup debut in a clash of #NextGenATP stars. Engel, 17, beat 19-year-old Rei Sakamoto 6-3, 6-7 (2), 10-7, and beat Germany 4-0.