(Paris) Félix Auger-Aliassime lost 6-3, 7-5 to the German Dominik Köpfer in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday.
Köpfer, 58e World racket, concluded the meet presented on the hard in one hour and 38 minutes. This setback will have consequences on the Canadian’s quest to secure a pass to the ATP Finals.
The 11the The world player was hoping to cap off an outstanding season by advancing to the ATP Finals, having reached the quarterfinals at the US Open and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. He also competed in the Murray River Open final in Melbourne and the Stuttgart Open in Germany.
Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Matteo Berrettini have all qualified for the ATP Finals. There are therefore two places to be allocated for the tournament bringing together the eight best players in the world.
However, Auger-Aliassime, Casper Ruud, Jannik Sinner, Hubert Hurkacz and Cameron Norrie are all fighting to join them in this tournament. From the group, the Quebec tennis player was already ahead in the world rankings by Ruud (8), Sinner (9) and Hurkacz (10).
In Paris, Auger-Aliassime demonstrated his power by slamming a total of 10 aces on Wednesday, against only three for his opponent, except that he was rough in other aspects of his game. The 21-year-old Quebecer has notably committed eight double faults, while Köpfer limited them to two.
The ninth seed in the tournament was also unable to generate breakage chances during the game. He’s only stolen his opponent’s serve once on three occasions, while Köpfer converted four of his eight break points.
These unusual statistics could be explained by the fact that the Quebecer had to receive treatment to his right arm in the second set. You will now need to know the severity of the injury.
In the next round, Köpfer will face the winner of the duel between Hurkacz and the American Tommy Paul.