(Halle) Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime retired while trailing 6-4, 4-3 against German Dominik Köpfer in the first round of the grass court tournament in Halle on Monday, just two weeks before kick-off of the Wimbledon tournament.
Posted at 8:12 a.m.
We do not yet know the nature and seriousness of the injury that bothered Auger-Aliassime on the 18th.e world player. Koepfer, 70e world player, now has a 2-0 career record against the maple leaf representative.
“I don’t think he suffered a serious injury, and I believe he will be back on the courts soon,” Köpfer said of Auger-Aliassime in a post-match press conference.
Everything worked today, I was focused. If I had continued to serve like this, I obviously would have won this match. I have already played two long matches in Stuttgart, which worked in my favor. I hope I can continue in this direction.
Dominik Köpfer
Köpfer will face in the second round of this preparatory tournament for Wimbledon the winner of the duel between the Frenchman Arthur Fils and the Czech Tomas Machac.
Record for Raonic
On the other hand, Ontarian Milos Raonic worked hard before defeating Briton Cameron Norrie 6-7 (6), 6-3 and 7-6 (9) after two hours and 15 minutes of play at first round of the Queen’s Club tournament.
In the process, the powerful Canadian slugger set a new record for the number of aces (47) in a three-set match. The previous mark was 45, and it was set by Croatian Ivo Karlovic. Raonic, who was runner-up at Queen’s Club in 2016, converted his third match point with a powerful forehand against Norrie, 39e player in the world.
56% of Raonic’s serving points were acquired with aces.
“With that score and that many match points to spare, I probably needed all of them (the aces),” said Raonic, who was faced with two match points in the tiebreaker of the third sleeve. My serve has always been the key element of my game.
Raonic, who clocks in at 186e world level, had five aces in the tiebreaker, including one that reached 232 km/h and set the table for a match point.
It’s a small record, but it’s special, it’s significant. I’m glad that behind this mark is a victory, because it would have been different, or maybe a little less enjoyable, if I had gotten so many free points in a defeat.
Milos Raonic
“So overall I would say it’s positive and it’s a fun statistic that I’m very proud of,” he concluded.
The men’s record for the greatest number of aces in a singles match is 113, achieved by John Isner in his marathon of more than 11 hours against Nicolas Mahut, in 2010. Mahut had for his part obtained 103 aces.
Raonic will meet in the second round with the winner of the duel between the Japanese Taro Daniel and the American Taylor Fritz, fourth seed.
Fernandez wins easily
In the women’s category, Leylah Annie Fernandez made short work of Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, winning 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of the grass tournament in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Lavalloise, 33e player in the world, improved her career record to 2-1 against Sorribes Tormo, 21e racket in the world.
PHOTO BERTRAND GUAY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Leylah Fernandez
Fernandez was more efficient than her rival in serving, which served her well, and much more opportunistic. The representative of the maple leaf notably converted six of her seven break points against the Spaniard, and she was broken only once in four attempts.
The Quebecer, sixth seed in the tournament, will face the Swiss Viktorija Golubic (no. 78) in the next round, who barely beat the Colombian Camila Osorio 6-4, 1-6 and 6-3.
