Auger-Aliassime bounced from Mexican Open after first-round loss to qualifier

ACAPULCO, Mexico – Felix Auger-Aliassime knows Acapulco is famous for its cliff diving, beaches and bars, but the Montreal tennis star was hoping it might also become a destination to get his inconsistent game back on track.

Hobbled by injuries and untimely lapses, Auger-Aliassime was looking at the popular Mexican Open to reclaim his panache.

But, despite beating 21-year-old Italian qualifier Flavio Cobolli 6-2 in the opening set on Monday night, Auger-Aliassime dropped the next two sets 6-3 and 6-2 to lose the opening-round best-of-three men’s singles match in one hour, 56 minutes.

Auger-Aliassime finished with five aces, 15 unforced errors, nine double faults, nine service games won and two return games won.

Cobolli finished with four aces, 10 unforced errors, two double faults, 10 service games won and four return games won.

Cobolli will play the winner of Tuesday’s match between the fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Roman Safiullin of Russia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2024.