Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime suffered a surprising loss to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in the second round of the Dubai tennis tournament on Wednesday, losing 7-6(4), 6-4.
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The 67th racket in the world made a decisive break in the seventh game of the second set when “FAA” committed a double fault. The winner held firm on his serve to clinch a win in nearly two hours of play.
Ninth player on the ATP circuit, Auger-Aliassime slammed six aces against two for Sonego. However, he was less brilliant in return, unable to give himself a single chance to break. Moreover, the maple leaf athlete maintained an efficiency percentage of 49% with the first balls in hand, compared to 79% for his opponent.
A few weeks earlier, he defeated the European 6-2, 6-3 in his first encounter at the Rotterdam tournament.
Shapovalov bows again
In Acapulco, Mexico, Denis Shapovalov was unable to surprise American Taylor Fritz.
‘Shapo’ struggled to find his rhythm in 1:18 of play in a straight-set loss 6-4, 6-4 at the hands of the player occupying the fifth rank in the world.
Even if the Ontarian showed great consistency on serve, he was unable to disconcert his rival when the latter initiated the exchanges. It was only at the very end of the duel that Shapovalov had a first break, while Fritz converted three of his five opportunities.
Since his heartbreaking loss to Hubert Hurkacz in the third round of the Australian Open, the Maple Leaf representative has won only one of his four encounters. He was eliminated from the start in Dallas and Delray Beach and needed three sets to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic in the round of 16 in Acapulco.
Fritz will face compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals.
Marino eliminated in Monterrey
In Monterrey, Mexico, Canadian Rebecca Marino worked hard before losing to China’s Zhu Lin.
After 2 h 20 min of play, the Torontonian folded the spine in three sets of 7-6 (4), 2-6 and 6-3.
Pointing to the 74th level in the world, Marino tried to cause an upset against the 41st racket in the world and fifth seed of this tournament of the WTA 250 series.
In the final set, however, the 32-year-old suffered a service break as she trailed 2-1. She was unable to come back, although she was much more incisive than her rival in possession, scoring 11 aces against just one.
On Monday, Marino won her first main draw match this year by beating Mexico’s Fernanda Contreras Gomez.
In addition, Zhu Lin had also disposed of the Canadian in the first round of the Australian Open in January.