Auger-Aliassime drops opening match of ATP Finals debut to Casper Ruud
Won 16 straight matches, 3 of final 4 tour events to qualify for season-ending tourney
Felix Auger-Aliassime's late-season surge has taken him to the next level.
The Montreal native made his ATP Tour Finals debut on Sunday, dropping a 7-6 (4), 6-4 decision to Norway's Casper Ruud in Turin, Italy.
The match was largely dominated by serving, and a solitary break in the seventh game of the second set proved enough for Ruud to secure the win over the fifth-seeded Canadian.
"I think this is some of the best level that I have played since the U.S. Open," said Ruud, who lost the final at Flushing Meadows to Carlos Alcaraz. "The last couple of months have been a little bit of a struggle, I have to honestly say that, but you have to accept it as well.
"You will face difficult moments in your career, and maybe these last couple of months was one of those. It doesn't matter how hard you practice if you don't win matches, so today was a great win for me."
WATCH l Auger-Aliassime falls in straight sets to Norway's Casper Ruud:
Auger-Aliassime earned his way into the elite season-ending event in Turin, Italy, with an impressive 16-match win streak, winning three of the final four ATP Tour events of the year.
The 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime took titles in Florence, Antwerp and Basel during that run. He also won in Rotterdam earlier in the season.
Ruud, the world No. 4, improved to 3-1 in head-to-head meetings with Auger-Aliassime. Both players are in a group with Spain's Rafael Nadal and American Taylor Fritz.
The Norwegian also beat Auger-Aliassime in the Round of 64 in Madrid and in the quarter-finals of the National Bank Open in Montreal earlier this season.
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., is the only other Canadian to ever qualify for the ATP Tour World Finals, having played in the event in 2014 and 2016. Raonic lost in the semifinals in 2016 and lost both of his matches in 2014.
Fritz tops Nadal
Nadal's bid to win one of the few titles missing from his glittering career started poorly as he was beaten in straight sets by eighth-seeded Fritz in their opening match later on Sunday.
After a close-fought opening set, Fritz dominated the second and secured a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over the top-seeded Nadal.
"It feels great. I felt like coming out first match, especially for my hopes of getting out of the group, it was going to be really important," Fritz said. "I came out and played a great match, and I couldn't be happier."
An incredible <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NittoATPFinals?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NittoATPFinals</a> debut for <a href="https://twitter.com/Taylor_Fritz97?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Taylor_Fritz97</a> 💫<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NittoATPFinals?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NittoATPFinals</a> <a href="https://t.co/8IrIxr0tJk">pic.twitter.com/8IrIxr0tJk</a>
—@atptourFritz strengthened his grip on the match when he broke Nadal's serve in the fourth game of the second set.
Nadal fought valiantly to stay in the match and managed to save four break points in the sixth game but Fritz prevailed at the fifth time of asking to leave him serving for the match. He closed it out when the Spaniard sent a forehand long.
It was only Nadal's second singles match since the U.S. Open as he has struggled with injuries and also became a father for the first time in October.
Nadal has never won the ATP Finals title in 10 attempts. He finished runner-up in 2010 and 2013.
Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev complete the lineup in Turin.
Switzerland wins Billie Jean King Cup
Belinda Bencic keeps delivering big titles for Switzerland.
The Olympic singles champion made sure Switzerland won the biggest prize in women's team tennis for the first time on Sunday, completing a near-perfect tournament by beating Australia's Alja Tomljanovic in straight sets in the Billie Jean King Cup final.
The win gave Switzerland an unassailable 2-0 lead after Jil Teichmann outlasted Australia's Storm Sanders 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the opening singles match.
Bencic had not dropped a set all week and extended that streak by beating Tomljanovic 6-2, 6-1 to clinch the title. The 25-year-old Bencic has only made it past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament once — reaching the semifinals of the 2019 U.S. Open — but seems to always raise her level when playing for Switzerland.
Sweet Swiss redemption 🇨🇭🏆<br><br>2021 runners-up <a href="https://twitter.com/swiss_tennis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@swiss_tennis</a> re-write the history books with their first ever title<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BJKCupFinals?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BJKCupFinals</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/BelindaBencic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BelindaBencic</a> <a href="https://t.co/V0M1m59cPP">pic.twitter.com/V0M1m59cPP</a>
—@BJKCupShe won the singles gold at the Tokyo Olympics and also added a silver medal in the doubles.
On Sunday, she produced a near-flawless performance even after spending more than two hours cheering on Teichmann in the early match.
The Swiss had never won the competition formerly known as the Fed Cup, losing the final in 1998 and again last year. Australia won it seven times, but the last was in 1974. The Australians have reached 10 finals since then, but lost them all.
"We didn't win this just today, it was this week, and it was actually over years," Switzerland team captain Heinz Guenthardt said. "Who knows why you win something and you lose something. A lot of it has to do with heart. And this team has a lot of heart, I tell you."
Bencic said last year's loss in the final served as extra motivation this time around.
"We were finalists last year and we were so heartbroken," Bencic said. "I don't think I've cried so much. But in the locker room [Teichmann] came to me and said, `Next year we're going to do it.' And we did."
With files from The Associated Press
