Félix Auger-Aliassime made his debut in 2021 with the presentation of Canada’s first duel at the ATP Cup, against the United States. The day was to be forgotten for the representatives of the maple leaf, who lost their two singles matches on Saturday in Sydney.
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“FAA” absolutely had to win against Taylor Fritz, the 23rd player in the men’s standings, to allow Canada to maintain its chances of victory. The Quebecer however lost in three innings of 6-7 (6), 6-4 and 6-4.
The 11e world racket did not manage any breakage of service and he did not assure when he had the balls in hand. Auger-Aliassime gave everything in the first set to snatch the 13th game from the tie-breaker from Fritz. He had to save four set points.
In the following assaults, the American was satisfied with the minimum, breaking the 21-year-old tennis player in the third game of the second set, then at 3-3 in the final round.
The Quebecer had participated in a professional tournament for the last time last November, in Stockholm. His compatriot Denis Shapovalov had ended his journey in the semifinals.
Schnur is no match for Isner
Brayden Schnur was John Isner’s surprise opponent to start Canada’s journey to the ATP Cup, but Denis Shapovalov’s replacement was easily defeated by the American in two sets of 6-1, 6-3.
“Shapo” was forced to forfeit an hour before his duel as he is still affected by side effects from COVID-19. As soon as he arrived in Australia on December 25, the 14th player in the world tested positive for the coronavirus.
He was released from solitary confinement five days later and said he only experienced minor symptoms.
This is how Schnur, modest 238e racket world, which was dispatched to take on the American giant. Isner gave him a hard time by hitting 10 aces and winning 80% of the rally on his first ball.
The 24e best player in the world has broken the Canadian’s serve four times, while the latter only obtained one tiebreaker.
Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov are scheduled to face Fritz and Isner in doubles later in the evening.
Canada finished third and last in Group A in 2021, unable to advance to the playoffs. This year, the opponents of the maple leaf are the United States, Great Britain and Germany.