It was a Montreal double in the Wimbledon first round as Félix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriel Diallo won their first-round matches at the All-England Club on Monday.
Auger-Aliassime put an end to his losing skid at Wimbledon, defeating Australian James Duckworth 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4. This is the first time the Canadian has reached the second round at the All-England Club since his quarter-final finish in 2021.
Auger-Aliassime dominated the stat sheet, finishing with 18 more aces than his opponent while winning 86 per cent of his first-serve points. The Montrealer was on attack for a majority of the match as the 24-year-old fired 69 winners and put Duckworth under constant pressure on serve, holding 15 break points.
Auger-Aliassime put pressure on Duckworth’s serve right from the opening game. At 15-40, the Australian was able to save the first break point but committed one of his 41 unforced errors in the match to hand the Canadian the early break.
The Montreal-native was untroubled on serve in the first set, winning 88 per cent of his first-serve points in the opener.
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At 5-2, Auger-Aliassime held a pair of break points once again and converted on the second time of asking to take the opening set.
In the second set, at 2-2, the Canadian No. 1 continued to put Duckworth under pressure on serve with his fifth break point of the afternoon, but the Australian No. 9 managed to hold before getting his first chance to break in the ensuing game. At 30-40, Auger-Aliassime saved break point, however, after a pair of unforced errors, the 24-year-old was broken.
Duckworth just needed to hold the rest of the way, which he did while saving another break point in the process.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair from the start. At 1-1, the Australian earned a second break but was broken back. Both players did not face another break point for the remainder of the set as a tiebreak was needed.
Auger-Aliassime struggled in the tiebreaker, committing three unforced errors as the Canadian went down 5-0. The Montrealer was unable to crawl back and found himself down a set.
The world No. 25 responded well though, managing the early break in the first game while dropping just three points in his first three service games to take a 4-2 lead.
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At 5-4, 40-15, Auger-Aliassime fired one of his 26 aces of the afternoon to send the match to a decisive set.
In the final set, Duckworth struggled to minimize his unforced errors. At 1-1, love-15, two-straight unforced errors by the Australian gave the Canadian three break points which Auger-Aliassime converted on. The former world No. 6 held to lead 3-1.
Auger-Aliassime put on a serving clinic for the remainder of the set, winning 94 per cent of his first-serve points. At 5-4 and serving for the match, the Montreal-native added two more aces to his tally to eventually set him up for match point and the Canadian capitalized.
On Wednesday, Auger-Aliassime takes on German Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round.
Diallo into second round on Wimbledon main draw debut
Gabriel Diallo impressed in his first Wimbledon main draw appearance as the Canadian is comfortably through to the second round after beating German Daniel Atlmaier 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 on Monday.
Diallo was solid from start to finish, ending the match with 24 unforced errors and his 30 winners were double that of Atlmaier’s. The Montreal-native won 77 per cent of his first-serve points but the difference was on return, holding 12 break points and converting on 50 per cent of them.
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The Libema Open winner certainly looked like a champion early on, taking the first five games of the match. Altmaier held which gave Diallo the opportunity to close out a dominant set on serve. A love game from the Canadian sealed the set as the 23-year-old did not drop a single point on his first serve in the opener.
Diallo got off to just as good of a start to the second set. After losing the opening game, the Montreal-native dropped just two points through the ensuing three games to go up a break.
At 4-1, Altmaier had the opportunity to crack the code on Diallo’s serve at 30-40. The Canadian No. 3 misplaced his forehand and was broken for the first and only time in the match.
Undeterred, Diallo forced deuce in the following game where the world No. 40 played well on attack in the ensuing two points to break back.
At 5-2, Diallo closed out the second set in the exact way he did in the first, with a love game capped off by firing one of his seven aces in the match.
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In the third set, the Canadian had fans holding their breaths in the fifth game after an awkward fall at the net while chasing down a dropshot. Diallo was slow to get up but that did not seem put a dent on his performance.
At 3-3, three-straight unforced errors from Altmaier gave Diallo a perfect chance to break. The German No. 2 saved two but was broken on the third attempt.
In the tenth game, with the Montrealer serving for the match at 5-4, got himself into a rare hole on serve at love-40. However, determined to finish off the match, Diallo won five-straight points to qualify for the second round.
The Canadan will be back on the court on Wednesday to face the winner of Taylor Fritz and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
Feature Photo: Martin Sidorjak
