Third-seeded Félix Auger-Aliassime advanced smoothly into the second round of Wimbledon, securing a convincing 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko at the iconic All England Club on Monday.
The 25-year-old Montreal native showcased his serving prowess, unleashing an impressive 15 aces while not facing a single break point throughout the match.
As the sole Canadian to progress to the second round on this day, Auger-Aliassime saw fellow compatriots Denis Shapovalov, Bianca Andreescu, and Leylah Fernandez exit the tournament.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Diallo, the only other Canadian singles player remaining, was poised to begin his first match on Tuesday.
Auger-Aliassime broke Shevchenko’s serve five times on nine opportunities and tallied 37 winners compared to his opponent’s seven.
In the next round, he is set to face Croatia’s Dino Prizmic, who is ranked 85 spots lower than Auger-Aliassime at No. 89.
A strong contender, Auger-Aliassime reached the quarterfinals of this respected grass-court Grand Slam in 2021, yet has recorded a 2-4 performance in majors since then.
Earlier in the day, Shapovalov was forced to retire from his first-round match after sustaining a left shoulder injury during a collision with the courtside barrier.
The Richmond Hill, Ont. athlete was trailing Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 7-6 (7) when he had to quit.
The injury occurred while Shapovalov was chasing a shot late in the second-set tiebreak. He briefly received treatment but decided to retire after playing one more point.
Despite finishing with 14 aces, Shapovalov only landed 53 percent of his first serves before the match came to an abrupt end. This marked Carreno Busta’s first victory at the All England Club.
In the women’s draw, qualifier Bianca Andreescu from Mississauga, Ont., faced a tough defeat at the hands of China’s Zhang Shuai, ending with a score of 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6).
Andreescu initially led 3-0 and 4-1 in the first set, but Zhang managed to break back in the seventh game. The two players held serve until Zhang won the crucial tiebreaker with three consecutive points.
In the second set, Andreescu also held a lead but missed an opportunity to close it out, allowing Zhang to break while she served for the set. Though she saved a match point in the 12th game to force a tiebreak, Zhang sealed her victory with a well-placed backhand winner.
Laval, Que.’s Leylah Fernandez also faced an early exit, losing 6-1, 7-6 (3) to Indonesia’s Janice Tjen.
Despite being seeded 22nd in the women’s draw, Fernandez had a rocky start, dropping her third break to Tjen in the final game of the first set.
Although Fernandez was more competitive in the second set, she trailed for the entirety of the tiebreak and ultimately succumbed to Tjen on her first match point, who had also defeated her in the first round of this year’s Australian Open.
