Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime triumphed over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 6-3, 7-5 victory during the second round of the Cincinnati Open on Sunday. Despite being seeded second at the Masters-level event, Auger-Aliassime faced challenges in the windy conditions of the second set. He initially struggled to close out the match at 5-4 but managed to break back in the following game. Ultimately, Auger-Aliassime secured the win with a powerful ace on match point after a tricky ending due to the adverse wind conditions.
Reflecting on his performance, Auger-Aliassime acknowledged the difficulties posed by the wind, especially in serving. Having not competed since Wimbledon and dealing with recent health issues, he expressed satisfaction with his comeback victory at the tournament.
Auger-Aliassime’s victory marked only the fourth win out of 11 encounters against Tsitsipas. Up next, the Canadian will face Juan Cerundolo of Argentina, who upset 25th seed Arthur Rinderknech of France in a thrilling match on Sunday.
In the women’s competition, qualifier Xiyu Wang of China defeated 30th-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., in a hard-fought battle that lasted two hours and two minutes. Wang, a former world No. 49, rallied after a slow start to claim victory over Fernandez, who recently reached the round of 16 at the National Bank Open in Toronto. The match statistics highlighted Wang’s solid performance with 23 winners, while Fernandez struggled with unforced errors and double faults.
Fernandez faced challenges in both her service and return games, winning only a fraction of each, while Wang displayed a more consistent performance in both aspects of her game.