Felix Auger-Aliassime has won his second Tour title after defeating JJ Wolf in straight sets at the UniCredit Firenze Open in Italy.
The world No.13 rallied his way to a 6-4, 6-4, win over his American opponent who was playing in a Tour final for the first time in his career at the age of 23. After dropping his opening service game, Auger-Aliassime bounced back triumphantly and didn’t face another break point for the remainder of the match. In contrast to Wolf who was broken three times. Overall, the Canadian hit 11 aces and won 85% of his first service points.
“I’m really happy. It never gets old winning, it always feels like the first time. It’s so special to win, especially here (in Florence). I had a fantastic week. It’s been amazing,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview.
“I had a good start in the first game (of the match) and then a bit of tightness in my first service game. But then I felt like I was playing really good tennis. I was serving unbelievable, probably the best all week.”
En route to victory, Auger-Aliassime has dropped only one set in four matches played. That was against Oscar Otte in the second round. Earlier in the week, he also defeated Brandon Nakashima and Lorenzo Musetti. A much-needed confidence boost for the tennis star who had failed to win back-to-back matches at his two previous tournaments (US Open and Astana Open).
Sunday’s victory at the Palazzo Wanny (the venue of the tournament) makes it the first time Auger-Aliassime has won an ATP trophy whilst being the top seed. He has now won two Tour finals out of 11 played so far in his career.
“Every final is tough, it is the two best players of the week. Of course, you try to win more than lose in finals and that is why I came out today ready to give everything,” he said.
“We had some really tough rallies in the second set but you keep pushing and try to keep your level high.’
“There is no magic, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but I’m really happy that I came here as the first seed and won my four matches with confidence and conviction, it’s really good for my confidence.”
As for Runner-up Wolf, who has only played 33 ATP Tour matches in his career, he can seek confidence in what has been a milestone week in Florence. He will rise to No.56 in the world ranking on Monday which will be a new career high for him. The American is now 1-6 against top 20 players.
“All the credit to Felix, he was better than me today. I still had a lot of fun out here. It was an amazing experience for me,” Wolf said during the trophy ceremony.
Auger-Aliassime will re-enter the world’s top 10 for the first time since August and has moved up to seventh in the ATP Race to Turin. Only the eight highest-ranked players will qualify for the prestigious ATP Finals. He is now tied with Alexander Bublik for most indoor matches won in 2022 at 15.
