Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated from the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters tournament on Wednesday after dropping a second-round match 6-4, 7-5 to Lorenzo Sonego of Italy.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked 35th in the world, fired just three aces while committing 13 unforced errors in a two-hour and two-minute match.
Sonego, ranked 57th, was a “lucky loser” replacement for world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who pulled out of the tournament on Tuesday because of a muscle injury to his right forearm.
With the win, Sonego evened his career record against Auger-Aliassime at 2-2.
He will next play either Zhizhen Zhang of China or 14th-seeded Ugo Humbert of France in the round of 16.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime eliminated from Monte Carlo Masters:
Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime loses in straight sets (6-4,7-5) to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego, at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
Sinner boasts 23-1 record this year
After dominating on aggressive hard courts, Jannik Sinner made a smooth transition to softer clay by beating Sebastian Korda 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Wednesday.
But defending champion Andrey Rublev was eliminated after a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Alexei Popyrin.
Sinner won 95 percent of points on his first serve and saved all three break points in improving his record to 23-1 this year. He has three titles in 2024, including the Australian Open — his first major trophy — and recently the Miami Open.
“I moved quite well in these conditions,” said the 22-year-old Italian, who reached the semifinals at Monte Carlo last year. “Every year it is tough to come here and perform well but I am happy with the performance.”
Sinner faces Jan-Lennard Struff on Thursday in the third round, where he will join two-time champions Novak Djokovic, who won on Tuesday, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 12th-seeded Tsitsipas routed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-1, 6-0, breaking his serve six times, and next faces No. 5 Alexander Zverev.
The sixth-seeded Rublev dropped his serve three times against Popyrin, who next faces No. 11 Alex de Minaur in an all-Australian contest at the Monte Carlo Country Club, which overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
“I am feeling really comfortable on [clay] and happy to beat a guy who was in form, confident and the defending champ,” Popyrin said. “It was an awesome match.”
Record 11-time Monte Carlo champion Rafael Nadal pulled out with a lingering injury before the tournament.
In other matches:
- De Minaur rallied past unseeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
- There were wins for No. 14 Ugo Humbert, No. 15 Karen Khachanov and lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego, who replaced the injured Carlos Alcaraz after he pulled out on Tuesday with a right forearm injury.
- Fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev, who is chasing his first title of the year, won 6-2, 6-4 against French veteran Gael Monfils, and two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud, seeded eighth, downed Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 6-4.
- Later Wednesday, last year’s runner-up Holger Rune faced qualifier Sumit Nagal of India and No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov played Miomir Kecmanovic.
