"The sensations before the competition are just different" - Zizou Bergs cherishes playing for country after terrific victory

Zizou Bergs was very proud of his victory over Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. He defeated the Frenchman 6-3, 7-6(4) to seal Belgium's spot in the last four of the Davis Cup Finals following on from Raphael Collignon's 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 win against Corentin Moutet.

It is a huge victory for Belgium as they look to taste success in the Davis Cup for the maiden time. They have got past the 10-time champions with two impressive performances. Bergs, the Belgian number one, was very solid against his French opponent. A break in the first set was enough for him to move one set away from victory. A dogged second set where he saved set points from Rinderknech went to a tiebreaker. Bergs was able to get the job done and send his country through. They will either face the number one seeds and host nation Italy or Austria for a coveted spot in the final.

After the match, Bergs was extremely delighted to get the job done in the fashion completed. "Yeah, how do I describe it? It's pretty weird, like something was bogging my head," he said after the match. "I don't really know what happened. Just a few points, but I'll probably re-watch it and be very proud of what I did, but also what Raphael did in the match before. For me, it just gives this extra push and this extra tranquillity to go out there and enjoy myself. So this one is a big credit to the team again."

This is Belgium's first semi-final in the event since 2017, marking a landmark victory and a huge result for their country. Despite Bergs (43) and Collignon (86) going into their respected matches lower ranked than Rinderknech (29) and Moutet (35), they were still able to muster up enough motivation and quality to fend off their tricky French opponents.

"Yeah, it's just something you can't describe," Bergs stated, describing what it felt like to represent your country in this scenario. "The sensations before the competition are just different. Today, before the match, I was more stressed than usual, but I know the more I stress, the more I care, the better it's going to be. The efficiency is on the court, and I have an amazing team giving me the love and support, as well as the fans. All this together, I guess it's working out for me."

He unveiled his very proud feelings for the team and the work they did to get where they are, revealing the mindset based in the group. "It's just such a help. If he wins, there is a huge opportunity. It's not about, 'If I don't win this, we're going to fail.' No, if I don't win this, we're just going to get another chance. So it's a little different mindset. Yeah, that's just great to have this as a team, to see that as a team we're growing and becoming better tennis players every year. I'm really proud of us, and hopefully we can continue this path."

Just beforehand, his fellow countryman Collignon completed an outstanding comeback win against Moutet. The Frenchman took the first set in ominous fashion before the Belgian clawed his way back into it. A humiliating blunder from Moutet left the door ajar for Collignon to break and take the second set, with him coming out on top with another late break of serve in a dominant display in the third set where he dropped just one point on serve.

"It was very stressful in the end and I managed to win for the team. Crazy atmosphere, crazy match and I'm very happy," Collignon said after his victory in Bologna.