‘Underdog’ FAA advances in Miami

Felix Auger Aliassime began his first Masters event in five years from an unseeded start but managed a 7-5, 6-4 defeat of qualifier Adam Walton on Thursday in Miami to move into the second round.

The Canadian whose ranking has dropped to 36 saved three set point in his win against an opponent playing atn ATP math for only the third time.

FAA, who once stood sixth in the world, found himself interrupted for 36 minutes by rain in tropical Florida but advanced on the back of 33 winners in two hours.

“He was making me work. It was tricky, he was not missing much,” the winner said. 

“But I’m happy with the way I handled it, to come out of a match like this in straight sets to start things off is positive for me.”

The Canadian set up a second-round encounter with fourth seed fourth seed Alexander Zverev and goes into the match trailing 5-2.

FAA produced his best effort at the event in his debut appearance in 2019, running all the way to the semi-finals as a qualifier.

He is unseeded at a Masters for the first time since Rome in 2019.