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The Canadians hardly had it simple, however each Félix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Annie Fernandez gained their opening matches on the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday.
Each Canadians needed to battle after gradual begins however managed to grit via to advance to the second and third spherical respectively.
Auger-Aliassime bought via to the second spherical of the Madrid Open by defeating Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in 2 hours, 20 minutes.
The Montreal native responded from a gradual begin, firing 11 aces and hitting 32 winners to beat a robust bodily problem from his opponent.
Nishioka, ranked 78th on the ATP Tour, was the extra constant of the 2 gamers early within the encounter. The 28-year-old left hander broke within the opening service sport of the match, aided by a pair of unforced errors from the Canadian. He would hold maintain of that early benefit with efficient serving, and staved off each break factors he confronted to seize the opening set 6-4.
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The Canadian rapidly turned the tide within the second, dictating play together with his serve and relying closely on his forehand wing to realize management from the again of the courtroom.
He constructed a robust lead, profitable 5 consecutive video games, seizing a pair of breaks off the left-hander’s serve; closing with a love maintain, the Montreal native gained the second set in simply 34 minutes.
The margins closed considerably within the third with each gamers buying and selling holds via the primary six video games of motion. Nishioka discovered extra success extending rallies previous 9 pictures, whereas Auger-Aliassime gained the majority of the shorter exchanges.
The Canadian lastly capitalized on his first break alternative within the seventh sport, breaking Nishioka for a vital 4-3 lead.
The Japanese managed to save lots of one match level at 5-3, however Auger-Aliassime wouldn’t be denied, closing out the match to like on his serve.
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With the victory, Auger-Aliassime improves his head-to-head towards his Japanese opponent to 3-2 and strikes to 12-10 on the season general. He’s additionally a powerful 9-2 in opening-round matches in 2024.
The world quantity 35, who reached the Madrid quarterfinals in 2022, joins fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov within the spherical of 64.
The 23-year-old will face Nineteenth-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France on Saturday.
Fernandez Overcomes Sluggish Begin in Madrid
Leylah Annie Fernandez was the third of the three Canadians in the singles draws in Madrid to get her marketing campaign underway, however not like her male counterparts, she had a first-round bye and managed to get via her first match in straight units.
Regardless of falling behind rapidly in her second-round match with Anastasia Potapova, the Canadian managed to search out her sport because the match went alongside, gritting out a 7-5, 6-3 win.
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Return largely dominated the match, as each girls gained lower than 40 per cent of their second serve factors and had been damaged a number of occasions, however Fernandez was efficient together with her first serve, profitable 71 per cent of these factors and saved six of 9 break factors on her serve, whereas changing 5 of eight possibilities on Potapova’s supply.
It took a while for Fernandez to discover a rhythm on serve to begin the match, as she was damaged in every of her first three service video games. Nonetheless, she broke Potapova twice within the early levels to maintain her opponent inside attain.
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Nonetheless down a break and serving to remain within the set at 3-5, the Canadian managed to save lots of 4 break factors that had been additionally set factors to remain in it. She then lastly caught up within the following sport, racing forward love-40 and changing her second break level to get again on serve at 5-5.
When it was Potapova’s flip to serve to remain within the set within the 12th sport, Fernandez took her alternative, breaking to like to wrap up the opening set after taking six of the final seven video games.
Potapova had an opportunity to regain the momentum when she held break factors within the opening sport of the second set however Fernandez was in a position to escape after which settled in on serve, shedding only one level in her subsequent two service video games.
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Because the match went alongside, Fernandez’s stable play and refusal to provide something away gave the impression to be entering into Potapova’s head. Poorly-timed errors began to price the 23-year-old, none greater than a double-fault on break level within the sixth sport to provide the Canadian a 4-2 lead.
That was sufficient for Fernandez, who held on to her serve for 2 extra video games to punch her ticket to spherical three.
Fernandez is thru to the third spherical in Madrid for the primary time in her profession. She is going to face world No. 9 and 2022 champion Ons Jabeur subsequent. The Tunisian has gained each earlier conferences on tour in three units, though they haven’t performed since 2021 and have by no means performed on clay.
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