Felix Auger-Aliassime: ‘Winning always feels like the first time’
Felix Auger-Aliassime was over the moon after capturing his second career title as his nightmare run of final falls is truly behind him.
The 22-year-old defeated first time ATP finalist JJ Wolf 6-4, 6-4 to claim the inaugural Firenze Open title in Florence, Italy. It is the Canadian’s second title from three finals in 2022. Auger-Aliassime lost eight tour level finals in a row from 2019 to 2021 before his first triumph in Rotterdam back February.
“I’m really happy,” he said after downing Wolf. “It never gets old, winning. It always feels like the first time. So special to win, especially here. I had a fantastic week. It’s been amazing and today again.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Oscar Otte and Brandon Nakashima before breaking home hearts in defeating Lorenzo Musetti to reach the final. Following the victory he climbs back into the ATP top 10 with a ranking of 10th.
“Every final is tough,” he added. “You know, it’s the two best players of the week. Of course you try to win more than you lose [in] finals. That’s why I came out today to really give everything.
“There’s no magic. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I’m really happy though because I came here, the first seed. I was the favourite in all of my matches on paper. It’s never an easy position.
“So to come out and win my four matches with confidence and conviction, it’s really good for my confidence.”
Felix Auger-Aliassime will aim to continue stoking that confidence as he pushes to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin next month.
“The plan right now is to play every week, to play in Antwerp, Basel and Paris because there are still tournaments to play and the Race is very close,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There [are] players like Taylor [Fritz] and Andrey [Rublev], and many others are competing hard right now to try and qualify, so I’m going to try to put myself in the best position possible to try and make it to Turin.”
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