Felix pulls through early Nishioka workout in Madrid

Felix Auger-Aliassime passed an early test of his resolve on Thursday to book a second-round spot at the Mutua Madrid Open, where the Canadian rallied past Yoshihito Nishioka 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Nishioka possesses one of the most creative gamestyles on the ATP Tour. The Japanese consistently whips up looping, spinning balls with his lefty forehand, but Auger-Aliassime found a way to battle past the World No. 78 with an impressive showing across the second and third sets of their first-round clash.

“It was a tough match,” said Auger-Aliassime. “He’s always tricky, he makes you work. He defends really well. Even though he’s small, he’s quick and crafty, so he gets some good angles on the court as well. I knew it was going to be a tough match. It’s always very physical.

“I think my heartbeat, if we could see on the screen, it was pretty high up during that match at many times. But I was serving really well, and I think that kept me in the match. Especially in the first set I had chances, and I believed that as the match went on I would have chances to break his serve, which I did. So really happy with my overall performance today.”

Something about that serve 🤌@tennis_insights | #ShotQuality pic.twitter.com/wdKVzqpeJ7

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 25, 2024

The No. 35 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Auger-Aliassime struck 32 winners to Nishioka’s 15, according to Infosys ATP Stats. With his two-hour, 20-minute win, the Canadian moved into a 3-2 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“In the second and third set I was winning my service games quite comfortably, so that was good,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I was giving myself chances on return. I think what changed is I was hitting a little bit deeper, a little bit harder than in the first set. I think I had the right ideas but was just not executing well. I was sharper and more precise in my angles as well, opening the court.”

Now 9-2 in opening-round matches for the year, the 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime will take on another crafty left-hander in 19th seed Adrian Mannarino next in Madrid, where he reached the quarter-finals in 2022.

There was triple joy for Italian fans on Thursday afternoon at the Caja Magica, where Lorenzo Sonego, Matteo Arnaldi and Flavio Cobolli all secured opening victories in Madrid. Sonego beat Richard Gasquet, who was competing in his 1000th tour-level match, 6-2, 7-5, to advance to face his countryman and good friend Jannik Sinner.

Arnaldi, who upset Casper Ruud en route to the third round as a qualifier in Madrid last year, eased past Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 6-1. The World No. 36 next plays third seed Daniil Medvedev, while Cobolli will take on 22nd seed Nicolas Jarry in the second round after downing Alejandro Tabilo 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro will be the in-form Stefanos Tsitsipas’ first opponent in Madrid. Monteiro beat Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-3 to set a first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with the Greek.