Felix Auger-Aliassime made a return to tennis by playing at the Citi Open in Washington, but it wasn't a winning return.
The great news for Auger-Aliassime is that he played a match, but the bad news is that he lost the match. The Canadian didn't play since Wimbledon took some time to get his knee back into shape after dealing with injury problems for a while. It was very much needed because it was pretty clear that he forced himself to play Wimbledon.
Auger-Aliassime declared before this North American stretch that he was fine and ready to play again, which he did in Washington, but it wasn't a very good match for him. Yes, Watanuki is a solid player, one with a great serve that can trouble opponents, but the Canadian wasted chances in both tie-breaks, and that indicates that he's got a long way to go.
The score itself was pretty close, with two tiebreaks deciding the match, but those crucial rallies were ultimately won by the Japanese player. The first one saw both waste early break points but the 40-0 advantage on the serve of Watanuki was particularly troublesome for Auger-Aliassime.
The tiebreak was an epic one with both players having set points, but Watanuki ultimately won it 12-10. The second set was a pretty perfect one from Watanuki, who didn't face a single break point in that one.
The third-seeded Canadian faced a couple but saved them all to secure the tiebreak and he started well. A 3-1 lead wasn't enough, though as Watanuki turned it completely around for the 7-3 finish.
The final score was 7-6(10) 7-6(3) for the Japanese player, who had plenty more winners than Auger (32>19). He'll face Ugo Humbert, who defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in the next round of the 2023 Citi Open in Washington.
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