Canadian teenager Auger-Aliassime shocks No. 16 Fognini at Rio Open
18-year-old expected to move into top-100 after tournament
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 upset of second-seed Fabio Fognini on Tuesday at the Rio Open tennis tournament.
Fognini, ranked No. 16 in the world, is the highest ranked player to lose to the 104th-ranked Canadian teen. It's Auger-Aliassime's second win over a top-20 opponent after he defeated then No. 18 Lucas Pouille in the opening round of last year's Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Auger-Aliassime, a wild-card in Rio, is expected to move into the top-100 after the tournament. He will next face Chile's Christian Garin, ranked 91 in the world, in the second round.
Showing veteran poise, Auger-Aliassime fended off all five break points he faced while converting three of the five break point presented to him by his Italian opponent. The Canadian's return game was also strong, as he limited Fognini to one ace, and held the veteran to converting on 60 per cent of first serve points and just 45 per cent of second serve points.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime sweeps Fognini, advances at Rio Open:
Auger-Aliassime's matchup with Fognini was a potential Davis Cup preview. Canada is in a group with Italy and the United States to open the Davis Cup finals, which will be held November in Madrid.
Schnur, Polanksy out in 1st round
Canadians Brayden Schnur and Peter Polansky suffered first-round eliminations Tuesday at the Delray Beach Open.
Polansky, from Thornhill, Ont., put up a fight in the second set before losing 6-3, 7-6 (4) to second seed John Isner of the United States. Schnur, from Pickering, Ont., lost his match 6-2, 6-2 to eighth seed Adrian Mannarino of France.
Mannarino committed no double faults and won 80 per cent of his first-serve points and was a sterling 93 per cent on second serve points. He saved both break points he faced while breaking Schnur four times.
Schnur had five aces to Mannarino's two, but also double-faulted four times.
Next up for Mannarino is Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
Schnur entered the tournament on a high, rising 47 spots in the world rankings to a career-best No. 107 after advancing to the final of last week's New York Open.
Polansky, ranked 122nd in the world, held firm against one of the most dominating servers in the game as Isner fired 23 aces in the match, including the winning point, and saved all four break points he faced. The world No. 9 managed to generate only three break points against Polansky, however, converting one in the first set.
Both players committed five double faults.
Isner next faces Slovakia's Lukas Lacko.
Bouchard falls in straight sets
Earlier, Canada's Eugenie Bouchard was eliminated at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The 24-year-old native of Westmount, Que., lost 7-6 (4), 6-4 to No. 3 seed Simona Halep of Romania in a second-round match on Tuesday.
The 79th-ranked Bouchard was much more competitive against the second-ranked Halep than she was in a 6-2, 6-2 loss in the second round of the Australian Open in January, with the Romanian notching two more winners and five fewer unforced errors than the former world No. 5.
Halep is now 4-1 against Bouchard lifetime, including wins in the past three matches.
Bouchard was coming off a 6-3, 6-4 win over Vera Lapko of Belarus, while Halep had a bye in the first round.
The win over Bouchard was the 200th main-draw victory for Halep in her career.
Bouchard remains alive in the doubles portion of the event. She'll team with American Sofia Kenin to face No. 6 seeds Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in a second-round match on Wednesday.
Bouchard is scheduled to return to singles action at a tournament in Acapulco, Mexico next week.