Auger-Aliassime through to 3rd round in Paris after dominant win, Fernandez ousted in singles
Frederic Daigle | The Canadian Press | Posted: July 30, 2024 1:22 PM | Last Updated: July 31
Montreal's Auger-Aliassime also wins mixed doubles opener with Ottawa's Dabrowski
If Felix Auger-Aliassime was sweaty after his second-round singles tennis match at the Paris Olympics, it was mostly due to the overwhelming heat on the Simonne Mathieu court rather than the challenge offered by his opponent.
For Leylah Annie Fernandez, the drops of perspiration on her face camouflaged a few tears.
Auger-Aliassime dominated Germany's Maximilian Marterer with a decisive 6-0, 6-1 victory in 64 minutes. On the women's side, Germany's Angelique Kerber won 6-4, 6-3 against Fernandez in their third-round match at Roland Garros.
Montreal's Auger-Aliassime won the first 10 games of his match before the crowd came alive when Marterer, who is ranked 116th in the world, finally made it onto the scoreboard in the second set.
The 23-year-old Canadian did not face break point in the match, as was the case in his first-round match against Marcos Giron of the United States, and scored 57 points to Marterer's 30.
"I was able to take control of the rallies," Auger-Aliassime said.
WATCH l Auger-Aliassime cruises past Marterer:
His third-round opponent will be fourth-seed Daniil Medvedev, who dominated Austria's Sebastian Ofner 6-2, 6-2 on Tuesday. Medvedev, a Russian national, is competing as a neutral athlete in Paris.
Medvedev has won each of the seven matches he's had with Auger-Aliassime so far, but they've all taken place on hard surface courts.
"For me, it would be ideal to face off against him here, on a clay court," Auger-Aliassime said. "It would be a nice place to win against him, at the Olympic Games."
Auger-Aliassime was also in action later on Tuesday in a first-round mixed doubles match with Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski. The Canadian duo defeated Britain's Heather Watson and Joe Salisbury 7-5, 4-6, (10-3).
Earlier, Fernandez was eliminated from the women's singles competition in what she called one of her worst matches to date.
"I'm very disappointed with how I played," she said, struggling to hold back her emotions. "I made a lot of forced errors, a lot of unforced errors. I didn't play a very smart match. Angie saw the open door and went in."
Kerber picked up her seventh break of the match to go up 4-2 in the second set, then clinched the victory on her first match point with a forehand winner. The 36-year-old German has announced that she'll retire after the Games.
WATCH l Fernandez eliminated in singles by Kerber:
Fernandez, from Laval, Que., made the most of her opportunities with four breaks on five chances, but her struggle to hold serve proved costly.
"Normally, I serve well. Today, I didn't serve very well," she said. "It was one of my worst matches. ... There were many things that didn't work at the same time. I was trying to stay positive in my mind but I didn't find the answers today."
The Olympics aren't over for the 21-year-old Canadian, however. She will team with Dabrowski in a women's doubles second-round match later this week.
Nadal, Alcaraz reach doubles quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are getting the hang of this doubles thing, improving to 2-0 as a team at the Paris Olympics and moving into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 10-2 match tiebreaker victory over Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands on Tuesday night.
Playing a day after Nadal's singles loss to rival Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz's win against Griekspoor, the old-and-young Spanish duo, wearing polo shirts in slightly different shades of red, didn't look like a pairing that never had played together until this event.
As has been the case throughout tennis at this Summer Games, the attention was fully on the 38-year-old Nadal, owner of 22 Grand Slam titles and two gold medals, and the 21-year-old Alcaraz, whose major trophy total already is at four, including from the French Open last month and Wimbledon this month.
Nadal — whose wife and 1 1/2-year-old son, Rafael Jr., were in the stands — and Alcaraz will face the fourth-seeded American team of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram for a semifinal berth. Krajicek and Ram beat Thiago Monteiro and Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Tuesday.
Gauff has heated argument before falling in 3rd round
Coco Gauff was left in tears after getting into an extended argument with the chair umpire over a ruling during the reigning U.S. Open champion's 7-6 (7), 6-2 loss to Donna Vekic of Croatia in their third-round singles match Tuesday.
Gauff, a 20-year-old American, already was trailing by a lot when the episode happened two games from the end of the match.
Gauff hit a serve and Vekic's return landed near the baseline. A line judge initially called Vekic's shot out; Gauff did not keep the ball in play. Chair umpire Jaume Campistol thought Vekic's shot landed in and awarded her the point, giving her a service break and a 4-2 lead.
Gauff walked over to talk to the official and play was delayed for several minutes.
"I never argue these calls. But he called it out before I hit the ball," Gauff said to Campistol. "It's not even a perception; it's the rules. I always have to advocate for myself."