FLORENCE, Italy — Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated J.J. Wolf 6-4, 6-4 to win his second ATP Tour trophy at the Firenze Open on Sunday.
The Montreal native fired 11 aces, the last of which he won the one hour, 41-minute match with. Auger-Aliassime, the top seed in the tournament, won 85 per cent of his first-serve points.
"It never gets old. Winning, it always feels like the first time," Auger-Aliassime said in his on-court interview. "It's so special to win, especially here. I had a fantastic week and it's been amazing.
"Every final is tough, it's the two best players of the week. Of course you try to win more than you lose the finals and that's why I came out here today ready to give everything," he added after the match. "We had some very tough rallies in the second set, feeling tough physically. But you keep pushing, try to keep the level high."
The match opened with three straight service breaks. But once Wolf won a service match early, Auger-Aliassime did not face another break point. The Canadian broke on three of his 12 opportunities and kept Wolf at bay through the match.
"I had a good start first game and then a bit of a tight first service game," Auger-Aliassime said after the match. "But then after I felt like I was playing really good tennis, serving unbelievable. Probably the best (I served) all week, so just really happy right now."
After receiving a bye into the second round, Auger-Aliassime defeated Oscar Otte, Brandon Nakashima and Lorenzo Musetti en route to the title match. Otte was the lone opponent to win a set against him in the tournament.
Auger-Aliassime closed the tournament only having lost his serve four times in four matches.
The 22-year-old, currently ranked 13th in the world, is set to move to No. 10 by Monday following his title win.
Auger-Aliassime had also won the Rotterdam Open in February.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2022.
The Canadian Press
