Félix Auger-Aliassime worked hard before finally beating American Maxime Cressy 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3 in the first round of the Dubai Men’s Tennis Tournament on Tuesday.
Auger-Aliassime, the tournament’s fourth seed, ousted Cressy after a three-hour marathon on cement in the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, he improved his career record against the 36th player in the world to 1-1, after losing to him last year at Wimbledon.
Cressy gave the Quebecer a hard time with his serve; he fired a total of 27 aces, more than double Auger-Aliassime (13).
“He doesn’t play in a common way, and that’s what makes him so formidable,” Auger-Aliassime said of Cressy, a classic serve-volley player. We never come across a player like him; it is unique. He beat me last time because I wasn’t properly prepared and couldn’t keep my composure as much as today.
His game, however, was affected by a lot of trash. Cressy committed 25 double faults, against only one for the representative of the maple leaf.
Moreover, it was a frustrating game for Auger-Aliassime, who was only able to convert one of his 14 break points against Cressy. The latter has also broken the ninth racket in the world once in three opportunities.
“It’s unfortunate that I had to push the match into three sets, but I finally managed to break it, for the first time… It felt good,” admitted Auger-Aliassime.
Cressy concluded the match with 50 winners, against 37 for the 22-year-old tennis player, and he committed 29 unforced errors, against 13 for the Canadian.
In the next round, Auger-Aliassime will cross swords with Lorenzo Sonego, who set the table for this duel by defeating the Swiss Marc-Andrea Hüsler 7-5, 6-4.
The Quebecer has a career record of 2-0 against Sonego, having notably eliminated him recently at the Rotterdam tournament.