Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime continued his successful run on clay with a 6-1, 7-6 (8) win over Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp in second-round action Saturday at the Italian Open.
Auger-Aliassime had four breaks in the match that went just under two hours five minutes, including a crucial break to cut van de Zandschulp’s lead in the second set to 5-4.
Down 6-5 later in the set, Auger-Aliassime fought off set point to hold and force a tiebreaker. The 23-year-old Canadian won the back-and-forth tiebreaker after taking a point on return to go up 7-6, then converting match point on serve to improve his career record against van de Zandschulp to 3-1.
Auger-Aliassime had a much easier time in the first set, reeling of five straight wins after the players opened with a hold each.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked No. 20 in the world, is looking for another deep run at an ATP 1000 clay court event after advancing to his first ever Master final last week in Madrid.
He will next face ninth seeded Australian Alex de Minaur. Auger-Aliassime is 2-0 at the senior level against de Minaur, including a victory in the final tie as Canada beat Australia to claim the 2022 Davis Cup.
Nadal reconsidering status for French Open
Fifteen days before he is scheduled to play in what will likely be his final French Open, Rafael Nadal is so unsatisfied with his level of tennis that he’s still debating whether or not to go to Roland Garros.
Nadal’s surgically repaired hip and his 37-year-old legs didn’t provide him with the necessary means to be competitive enough on Saturday as ninth-ranked Hubert Hurkacz overwhelmed the 22-time Grand Slam champion on the Spaniard’s beloved clay for a 6-1, 6-3 victory in the third round of the Italian Open.
It was Nadal’s first match against a top-10 player in 1 1/2 years and he couldn’t have been more disappointed.
“Tough day for me in all ways because I felt more ready than what I showed,” Nadal said. “I am little bit more unpredictable today, not playing enough for the last two years. Too many doubts.”
In terms of games won — just four — it was the most lopsided loss for Nadal on clay in 21 years, since also winning only four games against Gaston Gaudio in Hamburg in 2003 when he was only 16.
Nadal said he had two options for Paris.
“One is to say, ‘OK, I am not ready, I am not playing enough well,” Nadal said. “Another is accept how I am today and work the proper way to try to be in a different way in two weeks.
“The decision, as you can imagine, is not clear in my mind today. But if I have to say what’s my feeling and if my mind is closer one way or the other way, I going to say be in Roland Garros and try my best,” Nadal added. “Physically I have some issues, but not probably yet enough to say not playing in the most important event of my tennis career.”
Nadal is still regaining his fitness after missing nearly all of 2023 with a hip injury that required surgery,
“Let’s see what’s going on, how I feel myself mentally tomorrow, after tomorrow, and in one week,” Nadal said. “If I feel ready, I going to try to be there and fight for the things that I have been fighting the last 15 years, if now seems impossible.”
Source Agencies
