London, England) – After suffering a tough loss to Serbian Novak Djokovic on Wednesday, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime recovered very well and managed to beat Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the exhibition matches which take place at the sophisticated Hurlingham Club and which serve as preparation for Wimbledon.
Aliassime, who was on the same side of the group as Nadal in the Grand Slam which begins on Monday, won with a balanced score of 7/6 (8-6), 4/6 and 10-3. Two days ago, Nadal had easily beaten the Swiss Stan Wawrinka.
The first set didn’t see a single break point, as both served effectively most of the time. Nadal, however, had a close game to make 5/4 when he failed to land the first serve. The Canadian won his first four service games without giving up a single point.
Nadal, however, never led the tie-break, although he reacted to two breaks and got draws. Aliassime made it 5-3 after a double fault but fell short and finally allowed 5-5 to close on the second attempt. He finished the set with 13 aces and 82% won on first serve.
Faced with a strong wind, the Spaniard finally obtained the first break of the match to make 3/2 and from then on he was very firm. This time he was better than his opponent in points on the first serve, hitting 75% with four aces.
In the match-tie-break that decided the display, Aliassime was very happy in at least two important plays, including a backhand pass, and with that he opened wide 7-1. Then he served with 8-3 and wound up his good performance.
“Pop culture fan. Coffee expert. Bacon nerd. Infuriatingly humble communicator. Friendly gamer.”
