Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Felix Auger-Aliassime became the second highly seeded Canadian to make an early exit from the Sofia Open after falling to Italy’s Salvatore Caruso in second-round action Wednesday.
Caruso, ranked 82nd in the world, beat Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4 in a match that took around one hour 40 minutes to complete.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked 21st in the world and seeded second in Sofia, was the heavy favourite entering the match at the ATP 250 indoor hardcourt event. But the 20-year-old Montrealer failed to convert any of his six break point chances.
Caruso proved more opportunistic, converting two of his three chances on break point.
Caruso struggled with accuracy on his first serve, with only 44 per cent of them counting. But he didn’t hit into a double fault, while Auger-Aliassime committed five. Caruso also made up for his problematic first serve by winning 62 per cent of second serve points.
Auger-Aliassime had seven aces, but was hurt by the double faults.
Auger-Aliassime finishes his 2020 season with a 23-19 record and three tournament final appearances.
Top-seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was defeated in his second-round match on Tuesday.
Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil faces sixth-seed John Millman of Australia in a quarterfinal match Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2020.
The Canadian Press
