Felix Auger-Aliassime records milestone 250th win of career with opening victory in Shanghai

It was a double milestone kind of day for Felix Auger-Aliassime on Saturday, as he defeated Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets in his opening match at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, 6-3, 6-3.

First of all, it was his first match—and win—as a married man, having wed longtime partner Nina Ghaibi two weeks ago in Marrakech.

Second of all, it was the landmark 250th win of his career.

Auger-Aliassime is the third man born in the 2000s to hit that number, after the usual suspects—Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

MEN BORN IN 2000s WITH 100+ CAREER WINS (tour-level):

• 305: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001] (playing today)
• 276: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
• 250: Felix Auger-Aliassime [born in 2000]
• 171: Holger Rune [born in 2003]
• 168: Lorenzo Musetti [born in 2002]
• 142: Sebastian Korda [born in 2000]
• 125: Brandon Nakashima [born in 2001]
• 114: Jiri Lehecka [born in 2001]
• 109: Jack Draper [born in 2001]
• 108: Ben Shelton [born in 2002]
• 108: Sebastian Baez [born in 2000]

Playing each other for the first time, things were neck-and-neck early on in both sets before Auger-Aliassime caught fire just at the right times—he won four games in a row from 2-3 to pocket the first set, then three games in a row from 3-all to take the second set and the match.

At the end of the day the Canadian was just too solid on the stats sheet, finishing with 29 winners to 26 unforced errors. The Chilean, meanwhile, had 11 winners to 18 unforced errors in the match.

And break points were key, too, with Auger-Aliassime converting three of his five opportunities, while Tabilo went zero-for-seven.

Auger-Aliassime is now 9-2 in his last three events, having reached the quarterfinals of Cincinnati and the semifinals of the US Open in his last two events of the summer. He was stopped by Sinner both times.

Awaiting the No. 12-seeded Canadian in the third round will be Jesper de Jong, who upset No. 17-seeded Jakub Mensik, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.