Félix Auger-Aliassime is on the board at the ATP Finals in Turin. The Canadian mounted an impressive comeback on Wednesday in his second group stage match, fighting past world No. 5 Ben Shelton in a three-set thriller.
Needing a win after dropping his opening match on Monday to Jannik Sinner, the Montrealer found himself two points away from defeat in the second set. However, he held his nerve and brought his best when he needed it late in the second and third sets, securing a 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 win.
In a battle of elite servers, Auger-Aliassime managed to outduel one of the tour’s best. He put an incredible 80 per cent of his first serves in play and won 76 per cent of his total service points, 77 per cent on his first serve and 74 on his second. He had nine aces to his opponent’s seven and only faced three break points in the match while creating seven opportunities of his own.
A poor game from Auger-Aliassime put the Canadian in an early hole. At 1-2, he was up 30-love on his own serve only to commit four straight errors to gift Shelton a break.
Playing from behind against a server of Shelton’s quality is always a challenge and Auger-Aliassime had to be patient in order to get back in it. The door finally opened as the American served for the set at 5-3 but fell behind love-40. On the second break point, the Canadian chipped a backhand passing shot down the line to get back on serve.
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However, the comeback was short-lived. Serving to level at 5-5 in the following game, Auger-Aliassime sent a forehand long at 30-all to give his opponent a set point. Shelton blasted a forehand down the line that was too much to handle to wrap up the first set.
With his back against the wall, Auger-Aliassime did a good job of matching Shelton big serve for big serve in the second set. The Canadian did face the only break point at 3-4, saving it with a big serve up the T. He then had a half-chance at 5-5, getting to 30-all and deuce on Shelton’s serve, but was unable to create a break point.
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Shelton netted a serve-and-volley attempt on the opening point of the tiebreak and that looked like it might be decisive. The next nine points went to the server, giving Auger-Aliassime a pair of set points at 6-4. However, he netted a forehand and then missed his return on the second to level the breaker at 6-6. Another set point opportunity on his own serve would come and go before Shelton let him off the hook, double-faulting on the Canadian’s fourth set point to send the match to a deciding set.
The American had banged himself up and was hobbling late in the tiebreak and Auger-Aliassime looked to jump on his serve early in the third. A forehand into the net from Shelton gave the Canadian two break points in the fourth game, but the Toronto champion got out of the jam with two big serves.
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As Shelton served to send the match to a tiebreak at 5-6, Auger-Aliassime upped the pressure again. Some impressive hitting by the Montrealer earned him three match points at 30-40 and 40-AD twice. On the first two, the American cracked massive serves to draw even but on the third, Auger-Aliassime outlasted Shelton in a gruelling rally, eventually drawing an error to seal the win.
While the clinching scenarios will not be clear until after the match between Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev later on Wednesday, Auger-Aliassime will have a shot at reaching the semifinals in Turin regardless of that result. The Canadian will face Zverev in the final match of the group stage on Friday. Auger-Aliassime won their most-recent meeting at the US Open.
Feature Photo : Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour
