Auger-Aliassime outlasts American Kovacevic to capture Montpellier Open in tiebreaker

The Canadian Press

· Posted: Feb 02, 2025 12:45 PM EST | Last Updated: February 2

A coagulated service and patience helped Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime gain his 2nd men's tennis rubric of the season.

The second-seeded Canadian defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-2, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2) to triumph the Open Occitanie tourney Sunday successful Montpellier, France. Auger-Aliassime, of Montreal registered 19 aces and besides won 78 per cent of his archetypal serves successful the last of the ATP 250 event, which lasted 2 hours 39 minutes.

"I deliberation my service was immense contiguous to enactment successful the match, enactment adjacent to him successful the people and past effort my champion successful the tiebreak," Auger-Aliassime said. "I mislaid 1 and won one, conscionable gladsome it went my way."

WATCH l Auger-Aliassime rides 19 aces to his 2nd rubric of season:

But Auger Aliassime besides credited Kovacevic's service for allowing the American to get backmost into the lucifer successful the 2nd and 3rd sets.

"His prime of serving improved," the Canadian said. "I felt successful the archetypal acceptable . . . helium was going for shots that weren't casual and wasn't making them arsenic much.

"But successful the 2nd and 3rd sets helium started making those. He did truly good successful the 2nd and 3rd sets truthful I conscionable had to hold for my infinitesimal wherever I could reverse that tendency."

And Auger-Aliassime said that's wherever his patience and mindset of concentrating connected the present and present and not worrying astir what had happened truly paid off.

"I was a small unlucky but besides recognition to him, helium deed a large passing changeable connected the enactment erstwhile I had lucifer constituent successful the 2nd set," helium said. "It could've easy went retired but it didn't and that's erstwhile you're truly tested mentally.

"You person to effort and absorption connected what you tin power and effort to respond to this situation the champion mode imaginable and not bushed yourself."

Auger-Aliassime besides converted connected two-of-three interruption points to gain his 2nd rubric of the play and seventh overall. The Canadian won the Adelaide International lawsuit successful January and improved his grounds to 10-2 this season.