2022 French Open: Aliassime bests Varillas; win for Zverev
Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime prevailed against Juan Pablo Varillas in the first round of the 2022 French Open. The number nine seed staged a comeback to win 2-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. Varillas failed to capture his maiden win over a Top 10 rival in his career. Later, number three seed Alexander Zverev beat Austria's Sebastian Ofner 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 to advance further. Here's more.
Aliassime doled out 14 aces in the match. He converted five of his eight break points. He claimed a total of 123 points to his rival's 110. Aliassime now has a 1-0 lead over the Peruvian player in the ATP head-to-head.
Aliassime scripted his maiden win at the French Open. He had lost in the first rounds in 2020 and 2021. He has a 22-11 win record across Slams. He has seven wins at the Australian Open, six wins at Wimbledon, and eight at US Open.
Aliassime now enjoys a 24-12 win record this season. That includes a 9-6 record on clay. He pocketed the Rotterdam Open in February. He ended as a runner-up at the Marseille Open. He exited in the quarters at the Australian Open, Barcelona Open, Estoril Open, Madrid Open, and Rome Open. He exited in the second rounds in Indian Wells, Miami, and Monte-Carlo.
Zverev has punched a 2-0 lead over Ofner in ATP match-ups. Prior to the French Open duel, the duo had last met in the third round at the 2017 Wimbledon, with the former winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Zverev dished out 13 aces and converted four of his 15 break points He collected a total of 94 points to his rival's 72. He claimed 57 points from his serves and won 37 receiving points.
Zverev has a 25-9 win-loss record in the season so far. He lost in the finals in Montpellier and Madrid. He was a semi-finalist at the Monte-Carlo Masters and Rome Masters. He was ousted in the quarters of the Miami Open. He exited in the fourth round of the Australian Open. Zverev lost in second rounds in Acapulco, Indian Wells, and Munich.
Zverev now boasts a 19-6 win-loss record at the French Open. Overall, he has a 67-26 win record across Slams. He has a 104-41 record on clay including six titles (2017 Rome Masters, Munich Open and Madrid Open in 2018, Geneva Open in 2019, and Madrid Open in 2021). Meanwhile, Ofner has a 2-2 win record to show at the Slams.
Argentine Diego Schwartzman trounced Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. Number 18 seed Grigor Dimitrov beat Marcus Giron 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. Hugo Dellien bested former US Open winner Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Number 23 seed John Isner beat Quentin Halys 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(8). Tallon Griekspoor humbled the Number 25 seed, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 2-6, 6-0, 6-4, 6-3.
