Felix Digs Deep In Paris, Maintains Nitto ATP Finals Hopes
Felix Auger-Aliassime lived to fight another day on Tuesday in his quest for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals after a battling win at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Qualifier Gianluca Mager competed at a high level for 80 minutes to make Auger-Aliassime's life difficult, but once the ninth-seeded Canadian broke serve in the final game of the second set, it was one-way traffic and he completed a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory in one hour and 57 minutes.
Auger-Aliassime, who currently sits in 12th position in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin on 2,465 points, must win the biggest title of his career and hope that Casper Ruud and Jannik Sinner don't reach the latter stages of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
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World No. 66 Mager needed three set points to wrap up the opener, which ended with a smash winner after 37 minutes. Auger-Aliassime came under pressure at 3-3, 0/30 in the second set, but he recovered and was rewarded for his patience when Mager hit a double fault in the 10th game. Further errors started to creep into the Italian's game and Auger-Aliassime went on to record his 36th match win of the year (36-22) and remain in the hunt for a place at the season finale.
“I had difficulty with my pace at the beginning of the match,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I didn't hit enough first serves so I had a bit of pressure on my second serve. So I could have served better in the first set. I [had] a poor game at 4-all and I got broken, but even before that there were moments at 30-all it was a bit hot and a bit tight. I think I relaxed. I found a better pace at the beginning of the second set, and it went even better as the match went forward.”
Two singles places remain up for grabs at the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be held at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from 14-21 November. Ruud, Sinner, Hubert Hurkacz and Cameron Norrie also remain in contention.
Auger-Aliassime will next face Andy Murray's conqueror, lucky loser Dominik Koepfer of Germany, in the second round in south-west Paris.