Felix Auger-Aliassime was two points away from defeat before fighting back against Ben Shelton to win his first match at this year’s ATP Finals.
The world No.8 battled on court for almost two-and-a-half hours to oust Shelton 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5, in a closely fought encounter that featured just four breaks of serve – two for each player. Auger-Aliassime fired 37 winners with 21 coming from his forehand side but struggled early on in the clash. It is only the second time he has won a match at the ATP Finals after 2022, when he defeated Rafael Nadal in the round-robin stage.
“It was one of those days where, for some reason, he was playing much better than me in the start,” Auger-Aliassime said of Shelton afterwards.
“It’s not often I get broken twice indoors in the first set.
“It was kind of a weird start. I was not feeling great, but as the match went on, I felt like I was finding ways to put returns in the court. Once we engage in rallies, I could win maybe a bit more rallies.“
In what was the first Tour-level hard court match between the two, it was the unforced error count of both players that proved critical during the opening set. 23-year-old Shelton was the first to pounce with the help of an error-stricken game from Auger-Aliassime, who produced four mistakes in a row that featured back-to-back forehand errors to hand his rival a break for 3-1. Then it was Shelton’s turn to falter after he failed to serve the set out at 5-3 due to a series of errors. Prompting the frustrated American to throw his racket on the ground, which rebounded over his chair and resulted in him receiving a code violation. Nevertheless, Shelton bounced back in the next game to break Auger-Aliassime and seal a 6-4 lead.
The momentum changed during the second frame, where there was little to distinguish between the two. Earlier on, Shelton had a 30-0 lead on his rival’s serve when leading 3-2, but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. Then, in a dramatic tiebreaker, he went behind 2-5 and landed heavily on his knee after a rally, which caused him some pain initially before he managed to shake it off. Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime lost his lead and then failed to convert three set points before converting his fourth with the help of a double fault from Shelton.
Battling towards the finish line, Auger-Aliassime ousted Shelton in a tense decider. Working his way to a 6-5 lead, the Canadian saw two match points come and go due to some sublime serving from across the court. Shelton saved the first with a 187 km/h second serve before hitting an ace to save his second. Eventually, it was third time lucky for Auger-Alaissime, who finally secured the win with the help of a Shelton slice landing out.
“I have to give him credit. He kept coming up with great serves,” he said.
“I felt like I wanted to put pressure on him. I wanted to make him doubt when he was serving, but he was still coming up with the goods.
“When the opponent plays that way, you have to give him a lot of credit.”
The significance of the victory means Auger-Aliassime still has a chance of reaching the semi-finals when he faces Alexander Zverev in two days’ time. In his opening match against Jannik Sinner, he appeared to be struggling with a calf injury, but he has since stated he is fully fit.
“I felt great physically,” he commented after his latest performance.
“I think we recovered well with the team. We did the right things and I was able to play almost two and a half hours of high-intensity, high-quality tennis.”
As for Sinner and Zverev, who both won their opening matches, one of them can secure their place in the last four on Wednesday when they face each other. To do so, both must win, but Zverev has to do so in straight sets.
