Lajovic Stuns Felix To Reach Toronto Third Round
Dusan Lajovic shocked the Canadian crowd on Wednesday by defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets to advance to the third round at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers.
Auger-Aliassime was unable to take advantage of the home support, with Lajovic winning 7-5, 6-4.
Lajovic capitalised on nerves and numerous Auger-Aliassime forehand unforced errors to defeat the 21-year-old for the second time.
“I’m happy with the way that I was able to play from the beginning until the end,” Lajovic said. “The game at 4-3 in the second set when I was serving was a really tricky one. I’m happy that I had a little bit of luck in some moments but the most important thing was that was able to control the match and the way that I was able to make him uncomfortable.”
[WATCH LIVE 2]Auger-Aliassime’s costly double fault gifted Lajovic a break at 6-5 in the opening set, and the Serb held routinely in the following game to take a one-set advantage. Lajovic broke serve again in the third game of the second set and did not look back, with the World No. 41 saving two break points on his way to victory.
Following the defeat Auger-Aliassime believed that there were opportunities to get back into the match which he did not take.
“If you look at the match overall, especially in the second set, I felt like I had chances where I could have done better to get a break, to give myself a chance of maybe going three sets, but it is what it is,” Auger-Aliassime said.
Lajovic will look to claim his first win against Casper Ruud in the third round. Ruud has been in remarkable form in recent weeks, winning his past three tournaments (Bastad, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel) and holding a 35-9 record in 2021.
“He’s a guy with a lot of wins right now. It’s not going to be easy,” Lajovic said. “I’m going to be fighting for every point and we’ll see how it’s going to go.”
Auger-Aliassime’s defeat leaves Denis Shapovalov as the only Canadian in the draw. There has not been a Canadian men’s singles winner of the event since Robert Bedard in 1958.