The hopes of Canadian tennis have come to a halt as no players remain in the singles draws at Wimbledon.
Both Felix Auger-Aliassime and Victoria Mboko faced elimination in the second round on Thursday, closing the door on Canada’s quest for a Grand Slam title in both men’s and women’s events.
Auger-Aliassime, seeded at No. 25, was defeated by Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff with a score of 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 4-6.
In an intense second set, Auger-Aliassime had a chance to break with triple break points, but Struff rallied back to equalize.
The match, which commenced on Wednesday, was halted overnight and resumed on Thursday morning, where Auger-Aliassime unfortunately faltered, losing the final two sets.
Having faced first-round exits at Wimbledon for three consecutive years, Auger-Aliassime’s standout moment at this Grand Slam came in 2021 when he reached the quarterfinals.
Struff will advance to clash with the second-seeded reigning champion, Carlos Alcaraz from Spain.
Meanwhile, Mboko, who secured her spot as a lucky loser, was also ousted in straight sets — 7-6 (6), 6-3 — by unseeded American Hailey Baptiste.
Despite her impressive first-round victory over No. 25 seed Magdalena Frech, Mboko couldn’t extend her remarkable journey at the All England Club.
Baptiste surpassed Mboko with a point tally of 82 to 71 and achieved three breaks compared to Mboko’s two. This match marked Mboko’s debut in the Wimbledon main draw.
Next, Baptiste will take on the seventh-seeded Russian, Mirra Andreeva, in the third round.
On a brighter note, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski remains in the women’s doubles competition, teaming up with Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, while Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo is participating in men’s doubles alongside Belgium’s Zizou Bergs.
–with contributions from The Canadian Press
