Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime shrugged off the crowd cheering on his rival, Switzerland's Marc-Andrea Huesler, to win in three sets of 6-7 (3), 6-4 and 6-4, Wednesday, in a first round match at the Basel tennis tournament.
Crowned champion in his two previous competitions, in Florence and Antwerp, the winner almost experienced a different fate on Swiss soil. The 62nd player in the world and holder of an invitation from the organizers kept him on the pitch for 2 h 18 min. It took the penultimate game to allow “FAA” to take the upper hand. A nice climb to the net earned him the break and serve for the win. The maple leaf athlete did not miss his chance, pocketing all the points in the last game.
Third seed and ninth racket in the ATP, Auger-Aliassime outshot 17-13 for total aces. He won 89% of the points contested on his first serve, compared to 75% for Huesler. Also, the Belle Province player did not have to save his serve once and was broken twice in five occasions.
In the next round, he will face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, who occupies 28th place on the professional circuit.
Leylah Fernandez row in fourth
At the Challenger in Tampico, Mexico, Quebecer Leylah Fernandez continued her journey by beating China's Xiaodi You in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16.
The opening set was one-sided, with the world's No. 40 and third seed breaking her 26-year-old rival's serve twice.
You surprised Fernandez in the second set by quickly stealing his serve. The 20-year-old didn't panic, however, taking advantage of the ball struggles of the 271st ranked ATP player to steal her serve four times.
The Chinese was ultimately never in the game, she who could not deal with the precision of the Lavalloise. She won less than half of the points on her serve, while Fernandez recorded a nice success rate of 68% in this chapter.
In the next round, she will cross swords with fellow Canadian Rebecca Marino, the eighth seed. The 31-year-old veteran struggled to overcome Japan's Moyuka Uchijima on Wednesday. She got away in 2 h 49 min with the score of 7-6 (4), 6-7 (8) and 6-3.
Denis Shapovalov se venge
In Vienna, Austria, Denis Shapovalov of Ontario took revenge on American Taylor Fritz, whom he defeated in straight sets 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round.
The winner thus redeemed his loss in the semi-finals of the Tokyo tournament suffered earlier this month against his rival of the day. The 19th ATP player scored a key break in the penultimate game to give himself the opportunity to serve for the game. He signed a second win in as many days, having beaten local athlete Jurij Rodionov the day before.
“Shapo” maintained a success percentage of 51% on his first serves, while Fritz, 10th on the international scene, concluded at 63%. Each man slammed 10 aces, but the Canadian had four breaks, two more than the loser.
In the next stage, Shapovalov will face the Briton Daniel Evans (26th).
