Félix Auger-Aliassime could not continue his early 2025 momentum in the first 1000-level tournament of the ATP season, dropping his opening match at Indian Wells to Jenson Brooksby in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Auger-Aliassime received a bye to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open as the tournament’s No. 17 seed but was handily defeated by his opponent, who defeated Benjamin Bonzi to reach the second round.
The 24-year-old Canadian struggled with his usually reliable serve, winning just 67 per cent of his first serve points to Brooksby’s 79 per cent.
Brooksby will face Jack Draper in the third round.
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Brooksby took control of the match late in the first, breaking Auger-Aliassime to go up 5-4. The American would close out the set on serve, saving a pair of break points to take the first set 6-4.
Things nearly fell apart for the Montreal native early in the second set as he fell behind 15-40 on serve as Brooksby looked to take control of the match with his second break. Auger-Aliassime forced a deuce with his first ace of the match and forced a pair of errors from his opponent to hold serve and take a 2-1 lead.
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The relief was short-lived for Auger-Aliassime, as Brooksby completed his next break opportunity on the Canadian’s next service game to take a 3-2 lead. Brooksby would cruise from that point on and did not drop another game for the remainder of the match.
This was the second match between the two, with Brooksby also winning the first at the Citi Open in 2021.
Auger-Aliassime entered the tournament as the ATP Tour leader in wins (16), finals (3), and titles (2).
Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Leylah Annie Fernandez will also open their tournaments on Saturday, with Shapovalov playing against Australian Adam Walton, while Fernandez opens against Jaqueline Cristian.
Gabriel Diallo had his run at Indian Wells cut short on Friday after he was bounced by 20th seed Arthur Fils in the second round in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. The Montreal native entered the main draw as the lucky loser and advanced to the second round following a three-set win over Zhizhen Zhang.
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