ATP Tour News: Felix Auger-Aliassime beats Stefanos Tsitsipas to claim maiden title

Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Australian Open

Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime claimed straight sets 6-4, 6-2 victory over World no 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas to earn a maiden ATP Tour title in Rotterdam.

Auger-Aliassime has been arguably the form player of the ABN AMRO Championships but his win over Tsitsipas should still go down as an upset.

It was ninth time lucky for Auger-Aliassime as he ended a streak of eight ATP Tour final losses with an assured performance.

Auger-Aliassime had competed in the championship match in Rotterdam before, having fallen at the last hurdle against Gael Monfils in 2020.

Auger-Aliassime’s ground game gave him the edge early, and he would not relinquish that dominance.

The Canadian did not so much as surrender a single break point on his way to winning the ATP 500 event.

“It has not been the smoothest road since my first final three years ago,” Auger-Aliassime said during the trophy ceremony. “It is an amazing day for me to get my first title and especially here. I played my first ATP main draw here a couple of years ago, so it is right I won my first title here.

“I have a lot of good memories playing here in front of you, so thank you for making it a special week for me that I will remember for the rest of my life,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It is the happiest day of my career and hopefully it is the first of many to come.”

Tsitsipas was aiming to win his eighth career title and first since May 2021, but was blown off the court by the World No 9.

“He played a really good match, producing really good shots and serving well the whole match,” Tsitsipas said. “I wasn’t able to serve well at all today. He played very well.”

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