Felix Auger-Aliassime bounced back and secured a victory over Ben Shelton in Turin, Italy, on Wednesday (12/11) evening, to keep his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals semifinals alive.
The ATP No. 8 nearly lost two points in a tense second-set tie-break , but he fought back to secure a 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 victory after two hours and 25 minutes in Turin.
"He played much better than me in the beginning," said Auger-Aliassime, as quoted by ATP, Thursday.
"It's rare for my serve to be broken twice in the first set on an indoor court. It was a bit awkward at first, but as the match progressed, I started to find a way to get the ball back in the court."
"Once we got into the rallies, I felt like we could have won more. We just have to fight, be confident, and play the next point the right way," said the Canadian.
With the win, Auger-Aliassime kept alive his hopes of reaching the semifinals of the prestigious season-ending tournament for the first time.
After losing to defending champion Jannik Sinner in his opening match, he now has a 1-1 record in Group Bjorn Borg and will face third seed Alexander Zverev in his final round-robin match on.
There were concerns about Auger-Aliassime's physical condition after he suffered an injury in his loss to Sinner, but he silenced those doubters by moving freely against Shelton.
