Félix Auger-Aliassime achieved quite a feat on Tuesday morning when he beat Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-4 in the group stage of the ATP Finals.
Auger-Aliassime signed his first career victory against Nadal, the favorite of this prestigious competition bringing together the eight best players in the world. It was the third duel between the two players in their career on the ATP Tour. ‘Rafa’ had won the first two, which came at the French Open earlier this summer and at the Madrid Masters in 2019.
The Quebecer has thus increased his record to 1-1 so far in this tournament, after losing from the outset to the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Nadal, who has had very little training time due to the recent birth of his first child, was erratic on serve. The 36-year-old veteran was also rough at the defining moments of the encounter against the 22-year-old young tennis player.
Auger-Aliassime, who has been on a good streak recently after notably winning three consecutive tournaments, did not ask as much to overcome one of the monuments of modern men’s tennis. He finally sealed the outcome of the meeting after one hour and 56 minutes on the hard surface of the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
In the end, Auger-Aliassime outscored Nadal 15-1 in aces, and he committed half as many double faults as his rival (4-2). He also recorded two breaks in four opportunities against the Spaniard, in addition to erasing the five offered to his opponent. The fifth seed of the tournament also slammed 32 winners, compared to only 13 for the holder of 22 career Grand Slam titles.
Auger-Aliassime was tested early in the game, but this time around he didn’t seem intimidated by the tennis player on the other side of the net. He was also faced with two break points in the first game of the match, but never cracked and finally won it.
Both men then held on to their respective serves until the eighth game, when an overlong return from Nadal confirmed the game’s first break and gave Auger-Aliassime a 5-3 lead. The Quebecer then sealed the outcome of the first set in the following game, after the Spaniard had hit another forehand return that was too long.
The first set scenario repeated itself on Auger-Aliassime’s first serve game in the second set, when Nadal threatened to take it away from him, but again he used his excellent first serve to save two consecutive aces and get the point.
The representative of the maple leaf returned to the charge in the next game against Nadal, en route to his second break of the match to take control 2-1. Nadal, visibly short of answers to parry the Quebecer’s game, finally gave in 6-4.
In the other match of the Red group on Tuesday, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, who defeated Auger-Aliassime at the curtain raiser of the competition, will have an appointment with the American Taylor Fritz.