Rune and Auger-Aliassime crash out in Adelaide as they lose first match of new season
ATP
Holger Rune and Felix Auger-Aliassime will want to forget how they started the 2023 season, as they both lost their first match at the Adelaide International 1.
Both players chose to start their season at the ATP 250 tournament in Adelaide. Thanks to their high ranking, both were also among the seeded players at the event.
Auger-Aliassime, who is ranked sixth in the world, was the second seed. Rune is on the brink of the Top 10, ranked 11th, and he was seeded fifth in Adelaide, showing how strong the draw at the tournament is.
In the first round, the fifth-seeded Rune, who ended the 2022 season wit with his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Paris Masters, took on Yoshihito Nishioka from Japan.
The Japanese player was an outsider against Rune, but he had a great start to the match. In the first three games, Nishioka had four break points, but he couldn't use any of his chances, and that cost him the set.
Rune was the overwhelmingly better player from that point, and he easily won the first set 6-2. It seemed like a "new year, same me" story for Rune, who was dominating and certainly following up on his Paris Masters win.
But in the remainder of the match, his opponent was the better player. Although both players had their chances, Nishioka won the rallies that mattered, and ultimately, he also won the match, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The second seed was also eliminated in the first round. Auger-Aliassime took on home qualifier Alexei Popyrin, who delighted the home crowd.
In the first set, Popyrin broke the Canadian's serve in the best possible moment to lead 5-4, and after saving a break point in the following game, he won the first set 6-4.
Popyrin then overcame a one-break deficit in the second set to decide the match in a tie-break, winning 6-4, 7-6(5), stunning the second seed.
