Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime broke a key game in the sixth game of the decisive set to win 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 against American Marcos Giron on Tuesday in a match of first round at the tournament in Halle, Germany.
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The fourth seed in the competition needed 2h 12m to overcome the 60e ATP Tour racket. She had three break chances and capitalized on the second to take a 4-2 lead in the final set and never looked back.
Auger-Aliassime slammed 11 of the 12 aces in this duel on grass. On second serves, he had the upper hand 56% of the time. In such circumstances, Giron won only 46% of the points. The loser made three breaks, but allowed five to the maple leaf player.
The ninth player in the world will face in the second round another athlete from the United States, namely Mackenzie McDonald (53e).
Marino makes the favorite sweat
At the Birmingham tournament in Great Britain, British Columbian Rebecca Marino fought a great battle against the favorite and 16e WTA player, Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, but she escaped with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory in a first-round duel that lasted two hours.
However, the Canadian led 9-6 for total aces and committed five double faults, half of her opponent. However, Ostapenko won 81.0% of the points contested on his initial serve; Marino won 67.5% of the points when she had the first balls in hand. She also conceded seven breaks.
Andreescu wins double
In Berlin, Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu won her first women’s doubles match alongside Germany’s Sabine Lisicki. The duo defeated China’s Yang Zhaoxuan and Xu Yifan 7-5 and 6-4. Her next challenge will be played by American Asia Muhammad and Japanese Ena Shibahara.
In singles action, Andreescu will face fourth-seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the second round on Wednesday.
