For the first time in his career, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime has an ATP Tour title.
Auger-Aliassime defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-2 to win the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Sunday.
“It has not been the smoothest road since my first final three years ago,” said Auger-Aliassime. “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.”
Entering Sunday, Auger-Aliassime was 0-8 in his previous appearances in ATP finals, but came out inspired against Tsitsipas. He broke the Greek in the opening game of the match, and won 100 percent of the points on his first serve to cruise through the opening set.
He continued his stellar play in the second set as he jumped out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back. Auger-Aliassime clinched the title in 78 minutes.
“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,” said Auger-Aliassime. “It is the happiest day of my career and hopefully it is the first of many to come.”
Here in the United States, American Reilly Opelka defeated compatriot Jenson Brooksby 7-6(5), 7-6(3) to win the inaugural Dallas Open title.
“I thought I played very well under pressure, especially against a great player like Jenson,” said Opelka. “He makes you very uncomfortable and he took me out of my comfort zone a lot of the match today. I really had to play my best tennis to get by and I barely did.”
It was Opelka’s third career title, and he moves up three spots to No. 20 in the world rankings.
Casper Ruud defeated Diego Schwartzmann to win the Buenos Aires title, upending the Argentine in his home country. The Norwegian came back from a set down to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
“It’s been an unbelievable week. To come back here and try to defend the title not from last year but from two years ago has been a challenge, and I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Ruud. “Playing in front of all the fans on this centre court was a great feeling again, being back on clay, coming back to South America after two years, so I hope I can come back next year and try to do the same.”
