Félix Auger-Aliassime started his ABN Amro Open title defense on Tuesday on the right foot by easily defeating Italian Lorenzo Sonego in sets of 6-2, 6-3. Unlike last year when he lost the first set of his opening match against Egor Gerasimov, Auger-Aliassime was never worried. He held serve the entire game and only had to save two break points in the first game of the second set as he trailed 15-40.
“My last victory was a few weeks ago at the Australian Open and it’s positive to win my first match in straight sets,” said the eighth racket in the world. I am happy with my game against a player who can be annoying and who is competitive.
“It’s very good to win this way and it’s started the week well, chasing Auger-Aliassime, who topped the ATP Tour last year with 31 wins on the inside.
“I’m completely satisfied because a first match can always be dangerous. It’s not a pressure to be the defending champion, but more motivation to want to win again.
Auger-Aliassime was not bothered by the powerful serve of his opponent who had disposed of his friend Denis Shapovalov during the semi-final of the Davis Cup last November, in Malaga.
“Against Denis, he had achieved twenty aces and I am happy not to have experienced the same thing. If he had served the same way as at the Davis Cup, it would have been more complicated. He served with power, but he wasn’t precise enough. I dare to imagine that the quality of my returns made the difference,” he said.
Author of 13 aces against only one for the Italian and a success percentage of 67% on his first ball, Auger-Aliassime mixed his services well to annoy his opponent.
“I served very well and I was very precise, he explained. I varied my targets well and I felt that he no longer knew what to expect. It happened on the first shots [service et retour] when I left, but I also took the lead in the exchanges afterwards.
Big hitters
If he was unable to worry Auger-Aliassime, Sonego had pinned two players in the Top 10 in recent years.
As a “lucky-loser”, he notably beat Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals in Vienna in 2020 while the Serb was ranked first and defeated Hubert Hurkacz in the semi-finals in Metz in 2022 en route to his third career title. when the Pole found himself in 10th place.
By virtue of his title last year, Félix Auger-Aliassime is entitled to his banner in the heights of Rotterdam Ahoy as well as a photo on the number one field.
“It’s special to see my banner with those of Roger Federer and Andy Murray in particular, underlined Auger-Aliassime. It’s a tournament with a rich history.”
On Monday after training with FAA on court number 1, Denmark’s Holger Rune wrote jokingly on his twitter feed. “Now is not the time to miss a volley when Roger Federer is watching.” On the photo accompanying the message, we saw Rune in action with the photo of his idol in the background.
Triumphant return
Absent from Rotterdam for several years, Roger Federer made a comeback in 2018 a few weeks after winning the Australian Open.
A good performance would allow him to climb to the top of the ATP rankings, a first in five years, which convinced him to return to the Netherlands. He didn’t do things by halves in winning what was the most crowd-pleasing tournament in its history.
“As tournament director, this is my finest moment,” said Richard Krajicek, who took the reins of the event in 2004.
In the history of the Rotterdam tournament, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, several big names in tennis have won the title. Roger Federer is one of them. The Swiss won in 2005, 2012 and 2018. He is the only one to claim three titles.
Jimmy Connors (1978 and 1981), Arthur Ashe (1975 and 1976), Gaël Monfils (2019 and 2020) as well as the general manager of the event Richard Krajicek (1995 and 1997) have all won top honors on two occasions.
Other well-known winners include Andy Murray in 2009 and Bjorn Borg in 1979.
