Madrid (Spain) – Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime struggled in his debut at the Masters 1000 in Madrid, losing to Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, but then recovered and won comeback, triumphing with partials of 4/6, 6/1 and 6/4 . In the second round, he will face Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, who enters the group early as he is 19th in the tournament.
“It was a difficult match. He is always complicated, defends very well and makes you work. Even though he’s small, he’s fast and cunning, he also gets good angles, I knew it would be a difficult match. It’s always very physical. But I was serving really well and I think that kept me in the match. I am very happy with my overall performance today”, commented Aliassime.
“In the second and third sets, I won my service games quite comfortably, which was good and I was able to take risks in the return games. I think what changed is that I was hitting a little deeper, a little harder than in the first set. I was more precise and sharp in my angles too, opening the court”, added the 23-year-old Canadian and current 35th in the world.
Definition for Shelton, Tiafoe and Korda
Among the main favorites in Madrid, Americans Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda met their debut opponents this Thursday. Seeded 14th, Shelton will face the Czech Tomas Machac, who defeated the Finnish Emil Ruusuvuori by 2 sets to 1, with partials of 6/4, 1/6 and 6/2.
Tiafoe’s opponent in his debut, in the second round, will be Argentine Pedro Cachin, who beat Austrian Sebastian Ofner in straight sets, scoring a double 6/3 to guarantee a duel with the 20th favorite North American in the next match.
In turn, Korda could have had a 100% North American duel against Marcos Giron, but the compatriot of the 25th highest rated for the title ended up eliminated in the debut, falling to the Australian Max Purcell, who lost and sought the comeback, closing the game with the final score of 4/6, 6/4 and 7/6 (7-2).
