Felix Auger-Aliassime reinforced his chances of qualification by defeating Shelton
Felix Auger-Aliassime dominated Ben Shelton (4-6, 7-6, 7-5) on the second day of the ATP Finals. He’ll play his chance of qualification against Zverev.
Félix Auger-Aliassime, ATP Finals 2025 | © Zuma / PsNewz
Felix Auger-Aliassime confirmed his status as a top tennis player on Tuesday by beating Ben Shelton (4-6, 7-6, 7-5) in the second day of the ATP Finals.
In this clash of big servers and players in form, two breaks — one each — were enough to tip the match. Auger-Aliassime’s break in the very last game proved decisive on his third match point.
On the two previous points, Shelton had unleashed a huge second serve at nearly 190 km/h and an ace. His serving quality wasn’t enough. His first serve percentage (69%) compared to the Canadian’s 80% may have been the key factor deciding the final score.
Auger-Aliassime : “Kept believing”
“Good start the first few games, Auger-Aliassime summed up. Then it went his way quickly. It was weird. I made I would say a few bad mistakes to get broken. He had a good return on break point. Boom, all of a sudden I was down. I still believed that I could fight my way back.”
“Again, it was unfortunate to end the first set getting broken again. As the second set went on, I kept believing my chance would come. I think I played a good tiebreak. I got a bit nervous at the end to finish the tiebreak. I don’t know, wasn’t playing great, but in the end it went through (smiling). As the match went on, I felt like I was playing better and better.”
Auger-Aliassime’s stats
After two recent losses on tour to Jannik Sinner, in the Paris final and here in Turin, Auger-Aliassime confirmed two stats that have greatly contributed to his season: he won 20 deciding sets out of 27 in 2025, and 31 tie-breaks out of 45.
Shelton never really threatened victory despite winning the first set. He had a break point at 4-3 in the second set but never managed to shake the impression that Auger-Aliassime was unbeatable on his service games, with only 7 points won by the American in the second set and 4 in the third on the Canadian’s serve!
Shelton : “He was aggressive”
“I was in control of, for sure. “I didn’t feel like I was doing everything great, but I thought I was competing well, Shelton stated. I got to give credit to Felix. I thought he did a lot of things great today. I thought he served really well. I thought the way he hit the ball from the baseline was really good. First ball after the serve. He was aggressive. Came forward a lot. Executed in the big moments. That’s where I didn’t execute.”
Combined with the results from the first day, if Sinner wins Wednesday evening (8:30 PM) against Zverev, he will qualify for the semifinals. Zverev can also qualify if he beats the Italian, but he needs to win in straight sets. That would be a major upset in the competition.
