A “very motivated” Félix Auger-Aliassime gets his National Bank Open presented by Rogers underway Wednesday night against Flavio Cobolli.
Auger-Aliassime competes at home in Montreal for the third time and for the first time as an Olympic medallist. Auger-Aliassime won bronze with Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles in Paris — but also reached the singles semifinals after a pair of Top 10 scalps.
We go behind the numbers in looking at his opening round matchup with the Italian.
0
Auger-Aliassime, habitually backed by mom Marie, dad Sam and sister Malika at IGA Stadium, has never lost his first match in Montreal.
He made his debut in 2019 with a dramatic three-set win over compatriot Vasek Pospisil. If his Montreal trend continues, Auger-Aliassime will not only beat Cobolli but reach the semi-finals.
Why? The world No. 19 exited in the third round in 2019 and went a round farther in 2022, advancing to the quarter-finals.
Zero also marks the number of appearances for the fast-rising Cobolli in Montreal or Toronto.
80
Auger-Aliassime reiterated on Monday that when his serve is working, the rest of his game flows.
At the Olympics, the serve proved to be the framework for his success. Auger-Aliassime won more than 80 percent of his first-serve points in each of his four singles wins.
In his tight loss to Lorenzo Musetti in the bronze medal decider, he still tallied a hefty 76 percent.
The outlier? Claiming 60 percent of first serve points against Spanish dynamo Carlos Alcaraz in the final four.
Auger-Aliassime’s first opponent on the red clay, Marcos Giron, probably wasn’t surprised that ‘FAA’ went deep, given what he said after the 6-1, 6-4 result.
“I played him several times, and this is the best I’ve ever seen him play,” said the Californian, who had grabbed his first ATP title in Newport ahead of the Olympics. “He served massive. He kind of took the racket out of my hand.”
When Cobolli beat Auger-Aliassime in three sets in their lone meeting in Acapulco in February, he possessed a hefty advantage in points won behind the second serve.
9
Cobolli is one of nine Italian men inside the Top 100 in the men’s rankings.
Years ago, Italians were much better known for their clay-court prowess. Now, they are winning on all the surfaces.
Some cases in point include Jannik Sinner triumphing on hard courts at the Australian Open in January and Musetti making the final of a big Wimbledon tuneup on grass in London in June.
As for Cobolli, he just made his first ATP final in Washington on hard courts to find himself ranked at a career-high no. 33.
The number ’22’ also figures prominently among the Italian men. The four highest ranked Italians — Sinner, Musetti, Luciano Darderi and Cobolli — are all only 22.
The fifth highest-ranked Italian happens to be Matteo Berrettini. On the comeback trail, the former Wimbledon finalist recently won back-to-back tournaments in the Swiss and Austrian mountains.
Fun fact
Cobolli wears the clothing of brand ‘On,’ which is backed by none other than Roger Federer.
Another player is Ben Shelton — who is now 0-2 against Cobolli after losses in Geneva in May and Washington. Both times, Shelton led by a set.
Auger-Aliassime and Federer have something in common, too — the same birthday, which happens to be this Thursday.
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