Felix Auger-Aliassime earned victory on his debut at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Tuesday. However, he was made to work hard at the ATP 500 event, clawing past American Maxime Cressy 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3 to reach the second round.
The Canadian survived a serve-and-volley onslaught from a resilient Cressy, finding a number of stunning passing shots in pressure moments to triumph after three hours.
“He has not the most common game. But that is why he is difficult to play. You don’t have to face an opponent like him. He is quite unique and that is why I think he got me last time,” said Auger-Aliassime, who lost to Cressy at Wimbledon last year. “I think I was a bit unprepared and wasn’t able to stay as composed as I did today.
“I was sharp when I needed to. It was unfortunate it had to go three sets, but to be able to break him finally, for the first time since we’ve played together, was good.”
Auger-Aliassime arrived in Dubai off the back of a run to the semi-finals in Doha, where eventual champion Daniil Medvedev stopped him. The 22-year-old, who also fell to Medvedev in the quarter-finals in Rotterdam earlier this month, will next face Italian Lorenzo Sonego after improving to 8-4 on the year.
After winning a tight opening set, Auger-Aliassime was unable to cope with the 25-year-old’s proactive game in the second set, with Cressy clubbing 16 winners in the second set to level. However, the fourth seed remained patient on return and earned the crucial break in the fourth game of the third set, before remaining strong on serve to advance.
Auger-Aliassime has levelled his ATP Head2Head series against Cressy at 1-1, gaining revenge for his first-round defeat to the World No. 36 at Wimbledon last year. The World No. 9 is chasing his fifth tour-level title and first of the season this week.
In other action, Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp upset sixth seed Karen Khachanov 7-5, 6-2, while Australian Christopher O’Connell defeated Finn Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 6-4. Eighth seed Borna Coric advanced after Daniel Evans was forced to retire due to injury at 2-2 in the first set.
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