Monday Digest: Auger-Aliassime Making Strides in Madrid

It has been some time since Félix Auger-Aliassime has seemed pretty much as good as he has in Madrid. 

Week one of many Mutua Madrid Open noticed some spectacular performances by the Canadians, however the man from Montreal is the one one nonetheless going on the 1000-level occasion. 

In the meantime, Canadians proceed to have success on the ITF wheelchair tour. 

Right here’s what it’s good to know. 

In Case You Missed It: Good Indicators in Madrid 

Three Canadians entered the fray on the first combined Masters 1000 on clay of 2024 and all three received off to profitable begins. Nonetheless, just one made it to the second week. 

Leylah Annie Fernandez was the lone Canadian girl competing in Madrid. She beat Anastasia Potapova in her opening match earlier than dropping a heart-breaker in spherical three to Ons Jabeur. 

Denis Shapovalov scored a pair of spectacular victories over sturdy clay-court gamers Facundo Diaz Acosta and Tomas Martin Etcheverry earlier than being stone-walled in spherical three by two-time Madrid champion Alexander Zverev.  

Félix Auger-Aliassime was the one Canadian who made it to Monday, scoring a comeback win in spherical one over Yoshihito Nishioka earlier than delivering one among his finest performances in current months by dominating world No. 20 Adrian Mannarino with the lack of simply 4 video games.  

Then on Monday, he gained seven of eight video games earlier than Jakub Mensik retired, sending Auger-Aliassime into the final 16 of a 1000-level occasion (or greater) for the primary time since Indian Wells in March 2023.  

What to Watch: Auger-Aliassime Continues to Progress 

With Madrid persevering with to dominate the calendar this week, solely Auger-Aliassime is competing on the primary excursions this week. 

He already gained his first match of the brand new week earlier on Monday. Subsequent up is world No. 6 Casper Ruud. A win might see Auger-Aliassime meet high seed Jannik Sinner within the quarter-finals.  

Potential semifinal opponents embrace the Canadian’s nemesis Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Bublik, and Rafael Nadal. 

Below the Radar: One other win for Venos 

For the second week in a row, Thomas Venos received his palms on some {hardware} on the ITF Wheelchair Tour. This time it was a doubles trophy as he and Sergei Lysov of Israel claimed the trophy in Plock, Poland. 

Venos and Lysov knocked off the highest two seeded groups within the match, taking down high seeds Piotr Jaroszewski and Enrique Siscar Meseguer 11-9 within the match tiebreak within the semifinals after which beat second seeds Jakub Dominik Bukala and Kamil Fabisiak 10-6 within the decider to say the title. 

“It was an excellent combat in the present day within the ultimate. Within the match we had been those controlling the purpose proper from the beginning trying to put our opponents into hassle,” mentioned Venos after the ultimate. “We had been capable of come up clutch and discover our video games on the proper moments within the tiebreaker to take the match. It was a really enjoyable expertise to play with Sergei as he is an outstanding participant, and I’m very blissful to complete my first European tour with a title” 

It’s the eighth ITF doubles title of Venos’ profession and second of 2024. Together with his singles title final week, the Canadian has lifted three trophies up to now this 12 months. 

Three different Canadians gained ITF doubles titles final week. On the junior circuit, Manveer Boparai teamed up with American Chase Kelley to win the boys doubles on the J60 occasion in Tlaxcala, Mexico, whereas Amy Lu additionally gained a J60 ladies doubles occasion in San Jose with American Filipa Delgado. 

Learn additionally: Twin Problem for the 2024 Nationwide Financial institution Open

Over on the Masters aspect, Robert Oleksiuk gained the 45+ males’s doubles title at an MT400 occasion in Barcelona, Spain. 

This week, a trio of Canadian ladies are competing on the ITF W100 occasion in Gifu, Champion, led by Rebecca Marino. Gabriel Diallo can also be competing in an ATP Challenger occasion in Cagliari, Italy.  

You may observe the Canadians in motion each week right here.