Canadian teenager Auger-Aliassime upsets idol in Indian Wells
News & Trends •
i used to watch these guys on tv growing up and now to stand in front of them its crazy but i guess thats where my level is at right now and im just enjoying it1 teenage qualifier felix auger-aliassime scored a superb 6-2 7-64 first-round victory over fellow canadian vasek pospisil at the bnp paribas open in indian wells california early today1 he pounded down 11 aces and saved all three break points he faced en route to his first career victory1 to come here beat one of my growing idols vasek it felt kind of surreal at first montreal-born auger-aliassime told tennis channel1 all the emotions kicked in. i was trying to stay calm the whole second set the whole tiebreak. after i let everything go. it felt great1 auger-aliassime the youngest player in the mens draw and who shares a birthday with roger federer aug. 8 will face another canadian in the second round 32nd seed milos raonic1 its quite funny to see these guys in my draw he said1 the 17-year-old displayed lightning-quick footwork in his bright pink shoes and delighted the packed crowd with his formidable serve and powerful forehand1 another teenager enjoying the winning feeling on friday was 19-year-old australian wild card alex de minaur who beat 56th-ranked german jan-lennard struff 3-6 7-63 7-651 de minaur ranked 141st started the year by making the final of the sydney international where he lost to daniil medvedev1 he also took alexander zverev to five sets before losing a deciding tiebreak in a davis cup tie against germany in early february1 his davis cup team mate nick kyrgios withdrew on friday ahead of his first match citing an on-going right elbow injury1 kyrgios who had not played since the davis cup tie was scheduled to play medvedev on saturday but had been replaced by lucky loser matteo berrettini1 in other matches wild card ernesto escobedo beat fellow american frances tiafoe 7-5 6-3 while lucky loser dudi sela of israel edged german peter gojowczyk 6-4 6-41