Félix Auger-Aliassime lost 7-6 (4), 6-4 to Lorenzo Sonego in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championship on Wednesday morning.
The Quebecer now has a career record of 2-1 against Sonego, after losing after an hour and 55 minutes of play on the cement in the United Arab Emirates.
From the start, Auger-Aliassime struggled to establish his serve game.
The tournament’s fourth seed only put 46 percent of her first serve in play in the first set, compared to 79 percent for her opponent. Despite everything, the game was tight since no break point was recorded in the first set.
Sonego, however, stood out with 13 winners, against only 10 for the representative of the maple leaf, which eventually allowed him to win the first set.
The trend continued in the second set, and the Italian even managed to take the lead on the ninth racket in the world. Sonego notably dominated the column for first and second serves, and he did just enough to convert one of his three break points.
It was by taking advantage of a double fault by Auger-Aliassime in the seventh game of the second set that Sonego was able to obtain the decisive break.
Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime tried somehow to find solutions to revive against the 67th player in the world. We have to admit that he came up short, being unable to afford a single break point of the match.
The Italian converted the first of his two match points, with a winning shot.
In the quarter-finals, Sonego will meet seventh-seeded German Alexander Zverev, who defeated Australian Christopher O’Connell 7-5, 6-4.
Auger-Aliassime was the only Canadian competing in Dubai.
Djokovic in the quarter-finals
On the other hand, Novak Djokovic easily reached the quarter-finals after ousting Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 6-3.
Djokovic, the favorite of the tournament, extended his unbeaten streak to 19, the day after winning in three sets in the snatch against the 130th racket in the world, Tomas Machac.
The 35-year-old Serbian has stolen Griekspoor’s serve four times to remain unbeaten so far this season. It was Djokovic’s second match since winning his 10th career Australian Open title.
The five-time Dubai Tournament champion had decided to take a few weeks off after overcoming a hamstring injury in Australia, en route to claiming a 22nd major singles title of his career.
Djokovic will now face the winner of the duel between Pole Hubert Hurkacz and Russian Pavel Kotov, with a place in the semi-finals at stake.
Meanwhile, defending tournament champion Andrey Rublev struggled to overcome Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 1-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3).
The Russian saved five match points in the second set tiebreaker. He has won seven straight points, after quickly pulling himself out of a 1-6 gap.
Davidovich Fokina then went down 1-6 in the second set tiebreaker, saving two match points before losing in the third.
Rublev, the tournament’s second seed, will face Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in the quarter-finals.