Canadians Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov both gave up their first round at the BMW Men’s Tennis Championship on Tuesday.
German teenager Diego Dedura-Palomero advanced to the second round when Shapovalov retired due to injury. Aliassime, the third seed from Montreal, dropped the decisions of 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), and decided Mariano Navone of Argentina.
Dedura-Palomero led 3-0 with 7-6 (2) when the eight-seed Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ontario was forced to quit for unspecified damage. The 17-year-old German failed to win a spot through the qualifying match and entered the race as a lucky loser.
Dedura-Palomero became the first player born in 2008 to win the main draw on the ATP Tour.
Shapovalov had 5 A-Dedura-Palomero in the game-changer-but also recorded three double faults (his opponent did not). The German also converted one of his three breakthrough points to 2-2.
The spiral oxidation telegraph has more ACE (2-0) than NAVONE, but double errors (5-3). Moreover, he was able to convert 5-ball breakpoint attempts in 19, while Navone was 4 of 10 in that category.
The clay fight comes after winning two events on the hard court in the winter, while Shapowaf won the hard field championship in Dallas.
– Files with SportsNet employees
