Felix Auger-Aliassime has kept his hopes alive of qualifying for the ATP Nitto Finals in Turin by beating the Italian qualifier Gianluca Mager 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, at the Paris Masters.
The Canadian served 13 aces and hit 26 winners in a match that lasted one hour and 57 minutes on center court.
“I started quite well. I think the first set was quite tight with the same level. He was playing very well. I was not playing so bad as far as I’m concerned“. The Canadian said after his match.
The first set was pretty tight with both players doing a good job holding serve. At 4-4 the Montreal native played a poor service game and the world number 66 took full advantage of it by breaking and serving out the first set.
The second set was almost a mirror image to the first with it staying on serve until 5-4 when the world number 11 found himself with three set points and managed to break serve to send the match to a third set.
The 21-year-old kept the momentum going in the third set and got the early break of serve to take a 3-1 lead. Then at 4-1 went up a double break and served out the match.
In his post-match press conference, Auger Aliassime was asked about keeping the right attitude during the match and he thinks that was key to getting the win despite the adversity he faced.
” I think the fact of just keeping the right attitude and present myself to the best of my ability each time and trying to make him miss, to take him out of his comfort zone. It was the case at 5-4 in the second set, and the third set was in my favor. But for one-and-a-half sets, he played very well indeed”. He said.
Auger-Aliassime will now face the German Dominik Koepfer in the second round on Tuesday after he knocked out Andy Murray in his first-round match.
