French Open: Ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime survives scare against qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas
Felix Auger-Aliassime comes from two sets down to avoid a shock first-round loss to Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas at the French Open.
Felix Auger-Aliassime comes from two sets down to avoid a shock first-round loss to Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas at the French Open.
Felix Auger-Aliassime survived a major scare Sunday at Roland Garros, rallying from two-sets-to-love down for the first time in his career to reach the second round in Paris for the first time.
The World No. 9 recovered from a slow start to overcome Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas 2-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in a dramatic opening day encounter on Court Philippe Chatrier.
In a tight match, the Canadian struggled to cope with the World No. 122’s variety and intensity in the first two sets, with the Peruvian visibly pumped on what was his Grand Slam debut. However, Auger-Aliassime managed to turn the tables as he cut down on errors. The ninth seed found more first serves and hit with greater power, forcing Varillas into mistakes to advance after three hours and 13 minutes.
The 21-year-old is making his third appearance in Paris and will next play Aslan Karatsev or Argentine qualifier Camilo Ugo Carabelli. Earlier this month, the Canadian reached the quarter-finals at ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome in May.
In their first ATP Head2Head meeting Varillas made a fast start against Auger-Aliassime, quickly finding his range to break immediately. He hit his consistent groundstrokes with depth and precision for the opening 90 minutes, committing just seven unforced errors across the first two sets to take control.
However, Auger-Aliassime refused to go away, raising his level in the third set as he cut down on mistakes and started to take the ball earlier to remove time from the Peruvian, who started to tire.
The Canadian won 100 per cent (12/12) of his first-serve points in the fourth set to level the match, before he gained the crucial break in the eighth game of the fifth set to eventually break Varillas’ resistance. He then held serve to triumph, letting out a roar in relief.
After coming through qualifying at a Slam for the first time in his seventh attempt, Varillas was aiming to earn just his second tour-level win of the season and first Top 10 victory of his career. The four-time ATP Challenger Tour champion defeated Facundo Bagnis in the first round in Cordoba in February.
Roland Garros 2022
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Sixth seed Ons Jabeur suffers a surprise first-round defeat by Magda Linette on the opening day of the French Open.
Former French Open finalist Dominic Thiem says “nerves are toxic” to his forehand after losing in the Roland Garros first round.
On the hunt for major title No. 22, Rafael Nadal is not feeling the pressure as he prepares for his latest Grand Slam campaign in familiar surroundings at Roland Garros.
“I just enjoy, and I just enjoyed all my tennis career to be where I am,” said the 13-time champion in his pre-tournament press conference. “I always feel very privileged and lucky to have the chance to enjoy all the experiences that I am enjoying and I am living because of this sport.
“Here I am in Roland Garros [for] another year. It is a place I know well. It is a place that I consider the most important one in my tennis career, without a doubt, and with a lot of positive memories.”
The legendary Spaniard’s performances in Paris are renowned, but Nadal acknowledges his unrivalled Roland Garros record is part of a wider success story on clay.
“I think I won 12 [titles] in Barcelona, 10 in Rome and 11 in Monte Carlo, so probably there is not a big difference between here and the rest of the places,” said the 36-time ATP Masters 1000 champion. “It’s true that here I won maybe a couple more than the rest of the places, but I think my level of tennis on clay has been high during a long period of time in my tennis career, without a doubt. That’s what the numbers say.”
Despite owning a 105-3 match record at Roland Garros and lifting a record 21st Grand Slam trophy at January’s Australian Open, Nadal is taking nothing for granted as he begins his bid for a record-extending 14th title on the Parisian clay. The Spaniard was beaten in the semi-finals by eventual champion Novak Djokovic in 2021, and he knows he must find his best form if he wants to taste success once again in the French capital.
“Unfortunately here I didn’t have the preparation that I would like…but in sport, things can change quick,” said Nadal. “The only thing that I can do is try to be ready if that change happens.
“Today looks difficult and [it] looks [like] there are players that are in better shape than me, without a doubt, but you never know what can happen in the next couple of days. The same happened in Australia, and I put myself in a position to have a chance. Here is no different. The only thing I have to do is believe in my chances, believe in my daily work, and then stay positive.
“The results say that I am not [the favourite], but it is something that never worried much to me. Probably when I was a favourite, I never considered myself the favourite.”
If Nadal is to add another successful chapter to his storied Roland Garros history, he must battle through a stacked top half of the draw that also includes World No. 1 Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev. Yet the Spaniard is not looking past his opening round clash with Australian Jordan Thompson.
“Mentally for me it doesn’t matter,” said Nadal. “In terms of tennis, of course in the top of the draw you see the names, of course it is a very tough one. But we are in a Grand Slam, and you never know what can happen.
“I am probably humble enough to just be focussed on my first match. It doesn’t matter if I know where I am exactly and what possible opponents I can have.
“Let’s see. The only thing that I would like is to be one of the players that you think can face these other great players.”
Nadal’s chronic foot injury flared up during his third-round defeat to Denis Shapovalov in Rome 10 days ago, but the 35-year-old says he is not unduly concerned about the issue impacting his Paris campaign.
“There is nothing to recover,” said Nadal. “What happened in Rome is something that happened very often in my practices. I was suffering after that for a couple of days, but I feel better. That’s why I’m here.
“I talked after the match very openly about what’s going on. But at the same time, I said it is something that can be better in the near future. And I hope that’s the case here.
“It is something that I live with every day, so is nothing new for me and is not a big surprise. I am here just to play tennis and to try to make the best result possible here in Roland Garros. If I don’t believe that this thing can happen, probably I would not be here.”
World number one Iga Swiatek has returned as a BBC Sport columnist at the French Open, where she looks to continue her recent dominance and win a second Grand Slam title.
The Sunday start of Roland Garros includes opening-round matches for Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Paris. The year’s second Grand Slam begins exclusively with singles action, with 20 men’s matches on the slate.
ATPTour.com looks at some of the matches to watch on Day 1 in the French capital.
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The first ATP Head2Head meeting between this pair will close play on Court Philippe Chatrier, with Alcaraz one of the men to watch in his second appearance at Roland Garros. The Spaniard enters the clay-court major with a tour-leading four titles in 2022 — three on clay — and a 28-3 season record. He sits at a career-high of No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as a result of that breakout success.
After reaching the third round as a qualifier in a successful Roland Garros debut last year before losing to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, Alcaraz returns as one of the favourites to lift La Coupe des Mousquetaires in two weeks’ time. He brings a 10-match winning streak into the event after completing a Spanish title double in Barcelona and Madrid, downing Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in consecutive matches on his way to glory in the latter.
Londero last competed in an ATP Tour event in February when he qualified and won one main-draw match in Santiago. His best 2022 result came in February, when he won six straight sets to reach the Cordoba semi-finals. The 28-year old won his lone tour-level title in Cordoba in 2019 and reached a career-high of No. 50 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings later that year.
Third on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Zverev and Sebastian Ofner meet at a Grand Slam for the second time following the German’s straight-sets win in the Wimbledon 2017 third round – their only previous matchup.
The third seed brings strong clay-court form into Paris, having reached the semi-finals or better at all three ATP Masters 1000 events on the European clay swing. In between last-four showings in Monte Carlo and Rome, he reached the final in Madrid. Zverev’s 18-6 record at Roland Garros is his best at any major by win percentage, as are his three trips to the quarter-finals or better. His best run came last year, when he reached the semis before dropping a five-setter to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Zverev also faced the Greek in all three of his recent semi-finals, earning a victory in Madrid.
“It’s been a consistent clay court season,” the German said ahead of his Roland Garros opener. “I thought I picked up my level of game with each tournament on the clay court season, so I hope I can play my best tennis here. Obviously [I’m] a little bit disappointed I didn’t win a title on the clay this year… If I win the title here, then I’m more than happy about my clay-court season.”
Ofner, the World No. 218, is competing in his first tour-level main draw since he reached the Los Cabos second round last July. He won an ATP Challenger Tour event in Prague in April, his best result of the 2022 season.
The first ATP Head2Head matchup between Auger-Aliassime and Juan Pablo Varillas is the second meeting of their professional career, with the ninth seed winning a 2016 Futures match against the Peruvian, also on clay. They will be second on Court Philippe Chatrier on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Canadian won his first ATP Tour title in Rotterdam in February and followed it up with a trip to his 10th final in Marseille. Auger-Aliassime is 0-2 at Roland Garros, but enters Paris in tremendous form at the Grand Slams. After his loss to Andreas Seppi one year ago in the French capital, he has gone on to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals, the US Open semis and the Australian Open quarters. More recently, he has reached four straight ATP Tour quarter-finals, including at the ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome.
Varillas reached a career-high of No. 104 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings earlier this month and counts a qualifying run to the Cordoba last 16 as his best tour-level result of 2022. He has also reached four semi-finals, including one final, on the ATP Challenger Tour this season.
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Dominic Thiem seeks the first win of his comeback from a right-wrist injury on Court Simonne Mathieu against Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien. The Austrian, a two-time finalist at Roland Garros (2018-19), is also looking to bounce back from a surprise first-round loss to Pablo Andujar last year in Paris.
John Isner, one of 15 Americans in the men’s singles draw, opens against Quentin Halys, one of 15 Frenchmen in the draw. Those two nations lead the way in terms of tournament participants, with Argentina and Spain each providing 11 main-draw competitors.
Other seeded players in action include No. 15 Diego Schwartzman (vs. qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov), No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov (vs. Marcos Giron), No. 21 Karen Khachanov (vs. qualifier Nuno Borges), No. 25 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (vs. Tallon Griekspoor), No. 26 Botic van de Zandschulp (vs. qualifier Pavel Kotov) and No. 31 Jenson Brooksby (vs. Pablo Cuevas).
Roger Federer took a high-octane break from the practice court in Barcelona on Saturday as the Swiss legend caught up with Formula 1 great Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Federer was at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya watching qualifying for Sunday’s race, the sixth round of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. The 40-year-old visited Hamilton and the rest of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, including Hamilton’s teammate George Russell and Team Principal Toto Wolff.
“I had a need for speed. Good luck tomorrow,” wrote Federer to Hamilton and Russell via Twitter after spending time with the British duo. Hamilton is one of the most successful drivers of all time, having won a joint-record seven Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship titles, while 24-year-old Russell is considered one of the brightest talents in the sport.
I had a need for speed 🏎💨 Good Luck tomorrow @LewisHamilton @GeorgeRussell63 @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/EZLcjmewoK
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) May 21, 2022
Five-time year-end No. 1 Federer revealed this week that he is targeting a return to competitive action at September’s Laver Cup in London. The 103-time tour-level titlist has not played since Wimbledon last July due to two surgeries on his right knee.
The tennis world has descended on Paris for the year’s second Grand Slam, with Roland Garros set to begin Sunday. Several tournament favourites share the top half of the draw, with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and 13-time champ Rafael Nadal in the first quarter and the fast-rising Carlos Alcaraz in the second along with third seed Alexander Zverev.
Daniil Medvedev is back from injury for his second clay-court event of the season, with fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas joining him in the bottom half.
ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch this week.
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1) Djokovic Defending Title & More: The Serbian, seeking a third Roland Garros title, is also aiming to defend his position atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. His status as World No. 1 is under threat in Paris from Medvedev and Alexander Zverev as Djokovic defends 2,000 points from his 2021 title run.
The 34-year-old can draw level with Nadal at 21 Grand Slam singles titles with the trophy, and would become the first man in history to win all four Slams three times with another triumph in Paris. After winning his first title of 2022 and securing his 1,000th match win at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Djokovic has found top form after a difficult start to the season.
The Serbian opens against Yoshihito Nishioka and could face Alex Molcan in the third round, with the in-form Slovakian coached by Djokovic’s former coach Marian Vajda.
2) Nadal Out To Reclaim Throne: The Australian Open champion can get halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam by lifting the Roland Garros trophy for a record-extending 14th time, a triumph which would also extend his Grand Slam title record to 22. The Spaniard fell to Djokovic in the 2021 semi-finals and could now face his rival in this year’s quarter-finals.
Nadal opened the 2022 season in blistering form, starting the year at a personal-best 20-0 and winning titles at ATP Tour events in Melbourne and Acapulco in addition to his Aussie Open run. He also reached the Indian Wells final before being sidelined with a rib fracture. He has since posted a 3-2 record on the European clay, reaching the Madrid quarter-finals before struggling physically with his chronic foot injury in a Rome defeat to Denis Shapovalov.
The 35-year-old Nadal faces Aussie Jordan Thompson in the opening round and could face Stan Wawrinka in the second round. He enters Roland Garros with a record 105 wins at the event and a record 97.2 per cent match-win rate.
3) Alcaraz In New Territory: The 19-year-old’s rapid rise has been the big story on the ATP Tour in recent months, his season-best four titles helping him reach a career-high of No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He has won ATP Masters 1000 titles in Miami and Madrid in addition to claiming ATP 500 crowns in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. Alcaraz takes a 10-match winning streak into Paris after completing a Spanish trophy double.
Competing in his fifth major main draw, and his second Roland Garros, he is seeking to improve upon a quarter-final showing at the 2021 US Open. But Alcaraz is in new territory as a Grand Slam favourite in Paris, where he qualified and reached the third round last year in a successful debut.
The Spaniard, who holds a 28-3 record on the season, could join his countryman Nadal by becoming the second teenager to win a Grand Slam men’s singles title in the last 30 years. He faces Juan Ignacio Londero in the first round.
4) Tsitsipas, Zverev Seek Repeat Runs: Tsitsipas won a five-set semi-final against Zverev in 2021, and both men return with ambitions for another deep run in Paris. The Greek enters with a 31-10 record on the season, his 31 victories leading the ATP Tour. The Monte Carlo champion is 15-5 at Roland Garros and lost to Djokovic in five sets each of the past two years. He faces a tough opening test against #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
Zverev has reached finals in Montpellier and Madrid but is still seeking his first title of 2022. The German reached the semi-finals or better at three events on the European clay swing, advancing to the last four in Monte Carlo and Rome in addition to his Madrid run. He faced Tsitsipas in the semi-finals at all three events, scoring a victory in the Spanish capital. Zverev takes on Sebastian Ofner in the opening round.
5) Rublev, Ruud, Sinner Among Contenders: Seventh seed Andrey Rublev is a three-time ATP Tour champion in 2022 and looks to build on his quarter-final run one year ago in Paris. Casper Ruud enters Roland Garros on the heels of his second title of the season in Geneva. Seven of his eight tour-level titles have come on clay, but the eighth seed has never progressed beyond the third round in Paris, the stage of his exit in each of the last three years. Jannik Sinner, seeded 11th, has reached five quarter-finals this season, including at the Australian Open. He also reached the last eight one year ago at Roland Garros.
6) Medvedev Back In The Nick Of Time: The World No. 2 missed a chunk of the clay swing with a hernia, but returned last week in Geneva. Though Medvedev lost to Richard Gasquet in his first match back, the competitive play will serve him well as he seeks to improve upon his quarter-final showing in Paris last year.
The Australian Open finalist opens against Facundo Bagnis of Argentina.
7) Two-Time Finalist Thiem Steps Up Injury Return: Dominic Thiem is still seeking his first match win after returning from a right-wrist injury in April. He has played exclusively on clay in his five events in 2022 with the intention of building up his match sharpness for Roland Garros. Though Thiem won his first major at the 2020 US Open, Roland Garros has been his most consistent Slam. Prior to a first-round loss in 2021, he reached two finals, two semis and one quarter-final in the previous five years. His 28 wins in Paris are his most at any Slam.
8) French Farewells: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon, two of 15 Frenchmen in the men’s singles draw, are both playing the final Roland Garros of their decorated careers. Tsonga, 37, is playing the final event of an 18-year career that saw him break into the Top 5 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings (No. 5 in 2012), reach a Grand Slam final (2008 Australian Open) and win two ATP Masters 1000 titles (2008 Paris, 2014 Toronto). His 121 Grand Slam wins are the most all-time of any Frenchman.
Gilles Simon, also 37, will retire at the end of the 2022 season. Both he and Tsonga debuted at Roland Garros as wild cards in 2005. A 14-time tour-level titlist, Simon reached a high of No. 6 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2009.
9) Americans Dot The Draw: The 15 Americans in the men’s singles draws is the joint-most from any nation, alongside hosts France. The U.S. contingent features seven seeded players, led by 13th seed Taylor Fritz and also including Reilly Opelka, John Isner, Frances Tiafoe, Sebastian Korda, Tommy Paul and Jenson Brooksby. Isner, the 23rd seed, has reached the fourth round three times in Paris, the best previous result of any American in the draw alongside Korda’s 2020 run to the last 16, where he lost to Nadal.
There are no seeded Frenchman among their 15 entrants. Argentina and Spain each have 11 men in the singles draw, the only other nations with double-digit participants.
10) Ram/Salisbury, Herbert/Mahut Among Doubles Contenders: While the doubles draws have not yet been set, two-time Roland Garros quarter-finalists Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury have been confirmed as top seeds, with Great Britain’s Salisbury sitting atop the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings and Ram the World No 2.
Defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are seeded third as they seek a third title at their home Grand Slam, while Rome champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will make their team debut in Paris as the second seeds.
With his back against the wall, Casper Ruud successfully retained his Gonet Geneva Open title Saturday, overcoming Portugal’s Joao Sousa 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(1) to capture his eighth ATP Tour trophy.
The Norwegian rallied from a break down at 4-5 in the third set as he demonstrated his fighting spirit by returning with great depth in the crucial moments to become the first player since Stan Wawrinka in 2016 and 2017 to win multiple Geneva crowns.
In a dramatic final, the second seed fired 11 aces, hit with consistent depth on his backhand and struck the ball with power and accuracy on his forehand to secure victory on his fourth match point after three hours and one minute.
It was the first ATP Tour final of the season to go to a third-set tie-break, with Ruud’s win the longest championship match of the season in both time and games (36).
“It was one of the craziest matches that I have ever played,” Ruud said in his on-court interview. “It was a lot of up and down. Sousa was close to winning and then suddenly everything turns around and this is tennis. It is always tough for the player who is not winning.”
Ruud has now won six of the past seven ATP 250 clay-court events he has played, with his one defeat coming against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in Munich in April.
The World No. 8, who downed Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the final last year, is also just the second player this season to retain a trophy won in 2021, following Stefanos Tsitsipas’ successful defence of his Monte Carlo crown last month.
“This win feels so good, but you have to give a lot of credit to Joao because he fought back from one set down and has been playing well all week,” Ruud added. “It was just a matter of one or two points today and luckily they went in my favour.”
Earlier this season, Ruud clinched the title on clay in Buenos Aires. The 23-year-old joins Carlos Alcaraz (4), Rafael Nadal (3), Andrey Rublev (3), Cameron Norrie (2) and Reilly Opelka (2) as the sixth player to win multiple tour-level titles in 2022.
Sousa was aiming to clinch his fifth ATP Tour title and second of the year, having lifted the title in Pune in February. The 33-year-old, who did not drop a set en route to the final, has climbed to No. 63 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his run in Switzerland.