Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime started his first career outing at the ATP Tennis Finals on a losing note, suffering a straight-set loss 7-6 (4), 6-4 at the hands of Norway’s Casper Ruud on Sunday in Torino.
In this duel between two rising stars of men’s tennis, Ruud and Auger-Aliassime being ranked fourth and sixth at the ATP, it was the 23-year-old Norwegian who had the best thanks to a crucial break, the only one in the match, in the second set.
The break came in the seventh game when Auger-Aliassime double-faulted when he was down 15-40.
In the next game, Auger-Aliassime was given an opening when he won the first two points on Ruud’s serve.
The latter reacted by winning the next three points before protecting his serve and solidifying the break, to build a 5-3 lead.
The 22-year-old Montrealer easily won the ninth game, forcing Ruud to win the duel on his serve.
Equipped with two match points, the Norwegian ended the clash at his first opportunity when Auger-Aliassime returned his opponent’s first serve far outside the sideline, after 1h 50 minutes of ‘stock.
“I think I offered a level of play among the best, for me, since the United States Open,” analyzed Ruud, who lost in the final of this tournament last September against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
“Over the past two months it’s been a bit difficult, I have to admit, but it’s something you have to accept,” added Ruud. You’re going to face tough times in your career, and maybe that’s what happened in the last two months. No matter how hard you train, if you don’t win a game, it doesn’t mean much. Today was a great victory for me. »
Auger-Aliassime’s failure in the seventh game of the second set spoiled another very solid performance by the Montrealer at his service.
Auger-Aliassime had 14 aces against just three double faults, hit 64 percent of his first serves and won 84 percent of the points after placing his first ball in play. However, he only won 57 percent points on his second service ball.
By comparison, Ruud had five aces, double faulted, hit 66 percent of his first serves and won 75 percent of the points after lodging his first live ball. Ruud also won 78 percent of the points on his second serve ball.
Servers dominate
Auger-Aliassime scored half of his aces in the first set, which both players completely dominated on serve to the point of not conceding any break points in the first 12 games.
In the tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime was the first to relent when he double faulted, his first of the game, which gave Ruud a 4-2 lead.
Auger-Aliassime recovered that mini-break two points later when Ruud sent the ball just outside the sideline.
However, faced with a 4-5 decline, the Montrealer lost the next two points on his serve, and the set, in 59 minutes.
He first sent a backhand outside the sideline and then a forehand that flew over the baseline.
Auger-Aliassime came into the game with a career losing record of 1-2 against Ruud, including a stinging 6-1, 6-2 loss in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open last August in Montreal.
On the other hand, he could also boast of having experienced a streak of 16 victories in October which allowed him to win three tournaments played indoors and on hard surfaces – conditions identical to those in place at the ATP Finals – at Florence, Antwerp and Basel.
This streak had also helped him to reach the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 in Paris, where he however lost his flag against the Dane Holger Rune, eventual winner of the tournament, last Saturday.
Later on Sunday, in another Green Group match, Spaniard Rafael Nadal will face American Taylor Fritz.
The Red Group brings together Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev. These players will play their first match on Monday as Medvedev takes on Rublev and Djokovic takes on Tsitsipas.