Half two of the Sunshine Double obtained off to the same begin as the primary installment for Félix Auger-Aliassime, as he needed to battle to place away a difficult opponent in his opening match on the Miami Open.
However Auger-Aliassime was as much as the problem, taking part in his finest tennis when it mattered most and grinding previous Thiago Monteiro in two tiebreak units 7-6(5), 7-6(8).
The margins have been razor skinny all through the match, however Auger-Aliassime put himself in a robust place by profitable 86 per cent of his first serve factors and by no means granting his opponent a break level probability, though the Canadian didn’t convert all 5 of his. General, he gained 78 per cent of his service factors.
Auger-Aliassime was additionally the cleaner of the 2 with 23 unforced errors to his opponent’s 25, whereas he fired 32 winners to the Brazilian’s 19.
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By a lot of the primary set, Monteiro did a superb job stopping Auger-Aliassime from dictating factors by defending effectively and turning defence into offence every time attainable. Because of this, he hung with the Canadian all through.
Nonetheless, cracks started to appear late within the first set and Auger-Aliassime had two possibilities to interrupt for the set at 5-4, however Monteiro saved the primary with an enormous forehand winner and the Canadian despatched his return lengthy on the second.
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After serve dominated the opening set, 4 of the primary 5 factors of the tiebreak went to the returner. A backhand winner down the road proved decisive for Auger-Aliassime because it gave him the final minibreak he wanted, lastly changing his fifth set level, however first on his serve, to wrap up the opening set.
A trio of break factors got here and went for the Canadian early within the second set earlier than the pair settled again into the slugfest that had consumed a lot of the primary set.
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Not like the primary set tiebreak, the servers dominated. A minibreak on the primary level appeared to be sufficient for Auger-Aliassime as he held on to guide 6-4, however double faulted on the primary match level earlier than lacking a forehand lengthy on the second, which was on the Brazilian’s serve.
The serve did bail the Canadian out when he saved a set level with an enormous serve at 6-7. After lacking one other match level, a Monteiro framed forehand gave Auger-Aliassime a second probability to serve it out and this time the Brazilian missed a volley to convey the straight-set match to an in depth after two hours and 41 minutes.
A well-known face awaits Auger-Aliassime within the third spherical as he’ll meet Francisco Cerundolo for the third time in 2023 and for a second occasion in a row. The Canadian gained their earlier conferences at the Australian Open and earlier this month in Indian Wells.
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