Félix Auger-Aliassime made his debut at the Open 13 in Marseille on Wednesday, after defeating Frenchman Quentin Halys 6-2, 7-5 in the first round.
Auger-Aliassime, the seventh seed in the tournament, defeated Halys, a player from qualifying, after an hour and 18 minutes of play on Marseille cement. It was the first duel between the two tennis players in their careers on the ATP circuit.
“I started the match perfectly; I was hitting my targets and I was aggressive, and I was forcing him to play on his heels by being unpredictable,” Auger-Aliassime said. It was a perfect start to the match, then I served very well in the second set until I got lucky after double faulting. »
“I tried to put him under pressure every time he used a second service ball. I played a very complete match,” he summed up.
The 23-year-old Quebecer was playing his first match since his 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat against Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the semi-finals of the Montpellier tournament last week. Bublik then won the fourth title of his career.
Auger-Aliassime, 28th in the world, will face the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang in the next round on Thursday, who barely defeated the Italian Giulio Zeppieri 6-7 (7), 6-1 and 6-4. Auger-Aliassime has never faced Zhang, 50th player in the world, in his career.
The representative of the maple leaf was more effective than Halys, the 101st player in the world, in serving, both with his first and second service ball. He was only faced with one break point – which he saved – during this confrontation.
Auger-Aliassime was also more opportunistic than the local favorite in returning serve, breaking him three times in five occasions in total.
After stealing Halys’ serve to bring the score to 6-5 in the second set, Auger-Alissime had to preserve a break point before sealing the outcome of the match with his eighth and final ace of the game.
He now has an 8-3 career record in Marseille.
“I love playing here. I have good memories, admitted Auger-Aliassime. I’ve been a finalist twice, so I’ve won a few matches here, but I’ve never made it all the way. I would love to make another final here, but the week is still young and there is still a lot of tennis left to play. »
The day before, Ontarian Denis Shapovalov lost 7-5, 1-6 and 6-3 in the first round to Frenchman Hugo Gaston. The latter will meet his compatriot Ugo Humbert, fourth seed in the tournament, a little later today in the second round.