Felix Auger Aliassime is through to the second round of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle after beating the American Marcus Giron 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in two hours and 11 minutes.
The Montreal native served 11 aces and hit 33 winners in a match that featured many breaks of serve and one that went back and forth all match long.
“I lost my focus, got the break again but he played a good game and I think his belief came back a little bit in the second (set). He started hitting a few good shots and serving better so things got tricky and difficult for me. It’s great I was able to find a way at the end to win,” Said Auger-Aliassime
The first four games of the opening set went on serve before the number four seed was able to break the American to love to take an early 3-2 lead and that one break was enough to serve out the first set.
The second set was a bit more competitive with the first three games going on serve before the world number nine got the early break to lead 3-1 but the next three games were breaks of serve.
At 5-5 Giron managed to get the crucial break and was able to serve out the second set to send it to a deciding third set.
The world number 60 continued to pressure the Canadian and earned three chances to break in the opening game of the third set but Auger Aliassime saved all three and managed to hold serve.
The decider stayed on serve until 3-2 when again the world number nine broke the American to love and that was the break needed for him to serve out the match.
In his on court interview Auger Aliassime was asked how difficult it is when a player gets their belief back and starts playing better.
“He gained belief, confidence, he was missing less and serving better and I felt the momentum switched,” he replied. “Sometimes it’s hard to change it but I was able to recover and play some much better tennis”.
Auger Aliassime will now face another American in Mackenzie MacDonald who advanced on Monday after beating the Swiss Marc Andrea Hussler in straight sets 7-6, 6-4.
