Photo: Mauricio Paiz/Tennis Canada
It was a tough day at the office for Félix Auger-Aliassime on Monday at the Miami Open. After dropping his opening match last year, the 22-year-old suffered another early exit at the Masters 1000 tournament in 2023, falling 6-2, 7-5 in the third round to no. 25 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.
It was a tough start for the Canadian as he was unable to find any rhythm in the opening set and his opponent took full advantage. He broke serve twice to set himself up to pull off the upset.
Auger-Aliassime continued to struggle to begin set two and went down a break once again before mounting a bit of a comeback to get back on level terms. He was able to impose his game on Cerundolo more effectively and play his brand of tennis with his big serve-forehand combo, but it wasn’t enough to force a decisive third set.
After reaching the semifinals last season, Cerundolo’s success in Miami continues. He also avenges the loss he suffered at the hands of Auger-Aliassime in Indian Wells just a few weeks ago and posts his first victory in their head-to-head meetings in the process.
This is the first Masters 1000 event since Monte-Carlo in 2022 that Auger-Aliassime has not reached at least the quarter-finals, the end of an impressively consistent streak.
Meanwhile, in women’s doubles, Leylah Annie Fernandez and her American partner Taylor Townsend advanced to the final eight thanks to a 6-4, 7-6(4) triumph over the seventh-seeded team of Giuliana Olmos and Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Andreescu FORCED TO RETIRE Against Alexandrova
An encouraging Miami Open run came to an incredibly unfortunate end for Bianca Andreescu on Monday night. Trailing by a set and leading by a break in the second frame against Ekaterina Alexandrova in the Round of 16, she seemed to injure her left ankle quite badly while running forward to hit a ball close to the net.
She went down immediately in a lot of pain and left the court in a wheelchair after receiving some treatment from the trainers. The timing of the injury couldn’t have been worse considering how well she was playing during the Sunshine Swing. Wishing Bianca all the best in her recovery and a return to the court as quickly as possible in even better form.
