Canada's Auger-Aliassime gives up 2-set lead in French Open loss to Italy's Arnaldi
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime is out of the French Open after giving up a two-set lead in a 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 first-round loss to Italy's Matteo Arnaldi on Tuesday.
Arnaldi, who roared back into contention after being soundly defeated in the second set, picked up his fourth and fifth breaks of the match in the final set. Auger-Aliassime saved three match points in the final game before his long return clinched the match for Arnaldi.
The 36th-ranked Italian held serve throughout the final two sets, including Game 6 of the fifth when he faced double break point, to eliminate the 29th-seeded Auger-Aliassime.
Auger-Aliassime, who had medical timeouts before the fourth and fifth sets to work on his left ankle, looked like he was headed for a convincing win. He picked up the first break of the match to go up 6-5 in the first set, then served to love to take a 1-0 lead.
The Canadian carried that momentum into the second set, where he went up 4-0 by converting breaks in Games 1 and 3 and serving to love in Games 2 and 4, ultimately winning the set 6-2.
But after Auger-Aliassime picked up his fourth break to open the third set, Arnaldi finally got to the Canadian's serve. The Italian scored breaks in the second and fourth games en route to taking the set 6-3.
Arnaldi then tied the match 2-2 after converting the only break of the fourth set while looking increasingly confident on serve.
Arnaldi next faces another Italian, No. 26 Flavio Cobolli.
Auger-Aliassime, who entered the clay-court Grand Slam on a roll after reaching the semifinals of the Hamburg Open last week, failed to join fellow Canadians Gabriel Diallo and Denis Shapovalov in the second round.
The farthest Auger-Aliassime has made it at Roland Garros is the fourth round, a feat he accomplished twice before losing to the eventual champion (Rafael Nadal in 2022, Carlos Alcaraz last year).
Toronto's Victoria Mboko, the lone Canadian remaining in the women's singles draw, faces Belgium's Eva Lys in a second-round match Wednesday. Mboko won her Grand Slam main-draw debut with a 6-1, 7-6 (4) win over New Zealand's Lulu Sun in the opening round.
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