(Paris) Félix Auger-Aliassime made a successful debut at the French Open tennis tournament on Monday morning, but Mother Nature complicated his task by twice forcing the interruption of his match against the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka – including one time when he was one game away from victory.
The Quebecer eventually took the measure of Nishioka 6-2, 6-4 and 6-4 after two hours and 13 minutes of play on the clay court no 6, and he will face in the next round the winner of the match between the Australian Max Purcell, 94e in the world, and German qualifier Henri Squire, 221e.
Auger-Aliassime, the 21e top seed in the tournament, is now 4-2 in his career against Nishioka, 72e world racket. The representative of the maple leaf has won his last four duels against him, including those at the National Bank of Montreal Open in 2022 and at the Madrid Masters earlier this spring.
For his part, Ontario’s Denis Shapovalov will face Frenchman Luca Van Assche, 101, in the first round at Roland Garros later today.e in the world. This will be their first career duel.
For the ladies, Leylah Annie Fernandez, 31e seeded, will face Frenchwoman Jessika Ponchet, a guest player, in the first round later today. Pochet won their only previous duel, at the Gatineau tournament in July 2017.
Ontarian Bianca Andreescu will make her return to action in Paris, having not played a match since her back injury suffered at the National Bank Open in Montreal last August. The 2019 US Open champion, who reached the main draw in Paris by virtue of her protected ranking, will face Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo in the first round.
On Sunday, Montrealer Gabriel Diallo came from behind, but he still lost in five sets of 7-5, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 1-6, 7-5 against the Japanese Kei Nishikori, during the first round of the Roland-Garros tournament. Diallo was the only Canadian to play a match on the first day of this major tournament played in France.