Auger-Aliassime Wins Adelaide Title for Dream Start to 2025

Photo : Tennis Australia

What a start to 2025 for Félix Auger-Aliassime!

After going title-less in 2024, the Canadian No. 1 wasted no time in setting a better tone for the new year, claiming his first title since October 2023 in his first regular tour event of 2025 at the Adelaide International. Auger-Aliassime defeated Sebastian Korda in three sets in the final.

It is the sixth title of the Montrealer’s career and his first outdoors. In fact, it is the first outdoor singles title by a Canadian man since Milos Raonic won the Brisbane title to kick off his incredible 2016 season. The win over Korda was Auger-Aliassime’s second in a final, having also defeated the American in the Antwerp final in 2022.

This meeting was much closer than their first clash with a trophy on the line. Late breaks decided the first two sets before the Canadian put his foot on the gas, running away with the decider for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win.

In his earlier round matches, the Canadian was a bit boom-bust with high winner and error counts. His performance in the final was much cleaner, as he struck 25 winners, almost double Korda’s 13, to just 21 unforced errors while the American had 41. As always, the serve was critical as Auger-Aliassime won 83 per cent of his first serve points 48 per cent of his serves were unreturned.

Auger-Aliassime had to escape some early danger, facing three break points in his first service game and another in his second, before settling in. As it so often does, the serve helped him get out the jam. He saved all four break points, three with unreturned serves and the fourth with a big serve that set up an easy forehand winner.

Having handled Korda’s big opening punch, the Canadian started to find his rhythm in the rallies. As the set went along, the American started struggling to keep up with Auger-Aliassime and in the sixth game, some brilliant hitting from the Canadian gave him a love-40 opening on Korda’s serve. Korda missed a backhand to surrender the break.

While Auger-Aliassime missed a chance to break for the set at 5-2, holding a pair of set points on Korda’s serve, he did not need another break as he did not drop a point on serve in his last two service games of the set, closing it out with back-to-back holds to love.

The American managed to battle back to even at the start of the second set, with pair exchanging easy holds to get to 2-all. There, Auger-Aliassime had a chance to take a stranglehold on the match when he had a pair of break points. However, Korda found some big-hitting of his own to wipe away the opportunity.

When the door finally creaked open for the American, he burst through late in the set. Auger-Aliassime had been cruising on serve since his second service game of the match but serving at 3-4 in the second, he had an unexpected blip. A pair of double faults and a forehand miss gifted Korda a break point chance where he drew a forehand error from the Canadian to take a 5-3 lead.

Just like his semifinal win over top seed Tommy Paul, Auger-Aliassime quickly put the disappointment of losing the second set behind him. He immediately refound his rhythm on serve, opening the set with a hold to love and then breaking in Korda’s first service game, lacing an authoritative forehand winner up the line to take an early 2-0 lead which he celebrated with simply an intense stare.

There was no letup from the Canadian even though he had the lead. He backed up the break with an easy hold for 3-0 and continued putting pressure on his opponent. Auger-Aliassime missed a break point in the fourth game but raced ahead love-40 on Korda’s serve at 1-4, where a deep forehand drew an error on the second break point to put the Canadian a game away from the title.

The third set was a serving masterclass from Auger-Aliassime and now up a double break, the outcome was inevitable. He lost just one point on serve in the third set, holding to love three times including as he served for the title, which he fittingly sealed with an ace.

Auger-Aliassime is now 5-1 to start 2025, with the five wins coming in a row after dropping his season opener at the United Cup. He will head to the Australian Open, where he is the 29^th seed, with plenty of momentum as he has both a title and a Top 5 win, over No. 4 Taylor Fritz at the United Cup, on his record. Four of his five wins have been over Americans and the Canadian is currently on an eight-match winning streak against his southern neighbours.

He will play his first match at the Australian Open on Monday in Melbourne against Jan-Lennard Struff.

Tickets for the Davis Cup Qualifiers 1^st Round tie between Canada and Hungary are now on sale. Join us February 1 and 2 at IGA Stadium in Montreal, as the Canadian team begins their quest for the 2025 Davis Cup Final 8. To access tickets at early-bird pricing, click here.

Written By

Pete Borkowski