Auger-Aliassime beats Shelton to get off mark at ATP Finals / Photo: Marco BERTORELLO - AFP
Auger-Aliassime beats Shelton to get off mark at ATP Finals
Felix Auger-Aliassime got his ATP Finals bid up and running on Wednesday by beating Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-5 ahead of Jannik Sinner's clash with Alexander Zverev.
Canada's Auger-Aliassime won just his second ever match at the season-ending tournament with a battling display in Turin, coming back from a poor start to boost his hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
His win means that current world number one Sinner will qualify from the Bjorn Borg Group if he beats Zverev later in front of a partisan home crowd.
Auger-Aliassime's imposing service game, which included nine aces, eventually broke down Shelton whose erratic play cost him a debut win at the Finals.
The 25-year-old showed no signs of having the calf problem which affected his opening loss to Sinner, and he will face Zverev on Friday with a chance of making the knockout stage.
Shelton looked to be in control when he won the first set at the first opportunity, breaking Auger-Aliassime's serve for the second time just after having his initial break cancelled out.
Auger-Aliassime won a tight second set which went with serve until the tie-break, when Shelton had to save three sets points before eventually conceding the match lead with a double-fault.
And he won the match at the third time of asking at the end of another bruising set, breaking Shelton and getting a win on the board.
C.Rashad--CdE
