For a second consecutive year, Félix Auger-Aliassime’s career at the Wimbledon Tennis Open ended in the first round.
Facing American Michael Mmoh, ranked 119th in the world and admitted to the men’s singles main draw as a “fortunate loser”, Auger-Aliassime lost in four sets of 6-7 (4), 7-6 ( 4), 6-7 (4), 4-6.
Down 4-5 in the fourth set, Auger-Aliassime, who played his match with a bandage around his left knee, started the tenth game well by winning the first two points on his serve. He lost the next three, however, to find himself in front of a match point.
Mmoh didn’t have to hit a single ball during that point, Auger-Aliassime committing his eighth double fault of the clash, which lasted 3:59 minutes.
Last year, in an almost identical scenario, Auger-Aliassime also lost two sets in the tiebreaker en route to a four-set loss to Maxime Cressy, another player from the United States.
In 2021, Auger-Aliassime had reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
Moreover, on May 29, when he was physically in bad shape, Auger-Aliassime also lost in the first round during the French Open, against the Italian Fabio Fognini.
His duel against Mmoh on Monday was his first since that setback.
Auger-Aliassime finished the match with 17 aces, five more than his rival, but he also committed exactly twice as many double faults (eight against four). Auger-Aliassime accumulated 49 winners, ten more than Mmoh but above all, he committed 64 unforced errors compared to 44 for the American.
Mmoh also outperformed Auger-Aliassime in first-serve success rate (71% vs. 60%) and percentage of points won after placing his first serve (82% vs. 80%).
Both players faced five break points, and Mmoh saved three, one more than the Quebecer.
Ontarian Denis Shapovalov saw his first round match interrupted by darkness, against Radu Albot.
The Moldovan won the first set 7-5. At the time of the stoppage due to darkness, the score was 2-2 in the second inning.
The duel took place on court number 12, the same one where Auger-Aliassime played his.
Fernandez resists
Earlier in the day, Quebec’s Leylah Fernandez earned her ticket to the second round of women’s singles with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Ukraine’s Kateryna Baindl.
For Fernandez, who is only 20, it is her first career win in the women’s singles main draw at Wimbledon. In her only other appearance at the All England Club as a pro, in 2021, she was eliminated in the opening round.
Fernandez earned the win despite a mediocre performance on his serve, especially over the first two sets. Before starting the third set, the athlete from Laval had scored two aces and committed seven double faults.
Fernandez was more efficient in the third set, scoring five aces against three double faults. Above all, she posted a 71 percent success rate from her first serves in the decisive set.
Yet despite these more favorable stats, Fernandez, ranked 95th in the world, had to come from behind to topple her 85th-ranked rival in the third set.
Victim of a break in the first and fifth games of the set, Fernandez reacted by delighting her rival’s serve in the sixth game, then again in the 10th game, which allowed her to confirm her victory.
In the next round, Fernandez will face a tough test as she takes on Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia. Ranked fifth in the world, Garcia beat American Katie Volynets 6-4, 6-3.