Monday, 14 August 2023

Auger-Aliassime Outlasts Berrettini In Cincinnati

Will a return to Cincinnati be the catalyst for a Felix Auger-Aliassime resurgence in 2023?

The 12th-seeded Canadian dug deep Monday for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 triumph against Matteo Berrettini in a tense first-round encounter at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati. Auger-Aliassime recovered impressively from dropping the opening set on Grandstand to notch his second win in six Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with the Italian.

Arriving in Ohio on a five-match losing streak, Auger-Aliassime was handed one of the toughest first-round draws possible in seven-time tour-level champion Berrettini. Yet he outhit the Italian by 25 winners to 13 en route to a two-hour, 25-minute confidence-boosting triumph.

“It’s a big win. It’s been a tough year, dealing with new things,” said Auger-Aliassime. “Every win that I get, I’m happy, from now on. Of course the tournament has just started and I want to go further. I still have high ambitions. I never doubted myself.

“There’s comments right and left, but at the end of the day I know my tennis didn’t leave me. I know I can still play great tennis and I’ve proved it today again. So I’m going to try to keep going that way and it’s a positive start. Let’s try to keep this rolling.”

Auger-Aliassime reached the quarter-finals in Cincinnati in both 2021 and 2022. His second-round opponent at the Lindner Family Tennis Center will be Adrian Mannarino, who prevailed 6-4, 6-3 in an all-French encounter with Richard Gasquet on Sunday.

“Every match is different. I can’t take anything for granted,” said Auger-Aliassime. “It was a tough first round, but it’s not going to get any easier. The lesson is just to take that type of energy that I had today and just bring it day after day and see how far that leads me.”

More to follow…



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