Weekend Winners: First title in nine tries for Félix Auger-Aliassime; Anett Kontaveit continues indoor dominance

WATCH: Auger-Aliassime's search for a first ATP title came to an end in Rotterdam on Sunday after a win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Félix Auger-Aliassime has never skipped steps. As a 15-year-old, he quickly ascended to the top of the world junior rankings, and won the boys’ title at the US Open in 2016. From there, he jumped to the Challenger circuit and had immediate success, winning six titles in nine finals in 2017 and 2018. Since then, he has steadily moved up the ATP ladder, to a high of No. 9 last month, and gradually gone deeper at the majors. Last fall he made his first Slam semi, at the US Open, and last month he nearly upset tournament favorite Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open. In his methodical fashion, the 21-year-old Canadian has adapted to every surface and lived up to every expectation so far.

Except one: Before Sunday, Auger-Aliassime had yet to win an ATP title. Starting in 2019, he had reached eight finals on three surfaces, and had come away a loser every time. In fact, he had lost all 16 sets he had played in title matches. Some of those defeats—to Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini, Stefanos Tsitsipas—weren’t surprising. But others—to Laslo Djere, Dan Evans, Marin Cilic—were head-scratchers. Clearly it was turning into a thing for FAA.

Now, finally, that thing is over. Auger-Aliassime won his first tour title on Sunday in Rotterdam. He did it in convincing style, like a man making up for first lost time, with a runaway 6-4, 6-2 win over an opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had beaten him five straight times. And he did it in a place that has been meaningful in his career in the past.

“It hasn’t been the smoothest road since my first final three years ago,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It’s an amazing day for me to get my first title, and especially here. I played my first ATP main draw here a couple years ago, so it’s right that I won my first title here.”

As he often does, Auger-Aliassime got off to a fast start. He broke Tsitsipas to start the match; won all 16 of his first-serve points in the opening set; was the clear aggressor in the rallies; and had a definite plan to force Tsitsipas to beat him with his weaker shot, his one-handed backhand. On other big occasions, including his match with Medvedev last month in Melbourne, FAA has let opponents back in. This time he only got stronger down the stretch, flying out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, and holding serve in a flawless and seemingly nerveless final game.

“It’s the happiest day of my tennis career,” Auger-Aliassime said, “and hopefully it’s the first of many to come.”

The win capped a banner week, one in which Auger-Aliassime beat Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie, and No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev on his way to the final. For the last year or so, as his ranking has risen and he has pushed deeper into the majors, FAA has quieted most of the doubts that we might have had about his toughness or his big-stage sturdiness. But those doubts still persisted, because he had come up so disappointingly short in all eight of his finals. Today Auger-Aliassime quieted those doubts, too, and showed again that, when it comes to climbing the ladder of tennis success, he’s not going to skip any steps.

Once upon a time, Anett Kontaveit had trouble winning finals, too.

From 2017 through the first half of 2021, the Estonian lost seven of eight. Like Auger-Aliassime, Kontaveit didn’t seem to have the killer shot, or the killer instinct, that a player needs to get over that final hump on Sunday. But something changed for the 26-year-old last summer. She started working with Dmitry Tursunov. She started hitting the ball harder, playing more proactively, and showing more emotion. And she started winning finals. In August, she won one in Cleveland; now she can’t stop. On Sunday in St. Petersburg, the world No. 9 won her fifth title in her last six finals. And she did it like a tried-and-true champion, by finding a way to win on a day when she seemed destined to lose.

That’s what happened in her 5-7, 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over Maria Sakkari. There were all kinds of reasons Kontaveit shouldn’t have survived this three-hour war. She was facing an opponent ranked two spots ahead of her. She had to deal with Sakkari’s superior athleticism and front-court game. She had to come from behind in each of the last two sets. And she had to put the memory of her own squandered opportunities behind her.

Kontaveit jumped out to a 5-2 lead, and then suddenly imploded. She was beaten for pace by Sakkari, she swung late on her ground strokes, she lost seven straight games, and she trailed by a set and a break, 7-5, 2-0. After Kontaveit scraped through that second set in a tiebreaker, things looked even worse for her in the third. She went down 1-4 and had to fend off break points that would have made it 1-5 and likely sealed her fate.

But Kontaveit has seen a lot of Sakkari over the years. Since 2016, they had met 12 times and split those matches equally. She knew that Sakkari can get edgy and tight when she tries to close out matches, and the shots she usually drills for winners can start sailing over the baseline. If you stay in touch with her in the scoreline, avoid going down two breaks, and keep a little bit of pressure on Sakkari, you may be rewarded, and Kontaveit was. Serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set, Sakkari played her worst game of the day and was broken. Credit Kontaveit for grabbing that lifeline with all she had, lifting her level from there, and holding her nerve when she served for it at 6-5.

Kontaveit has now won 20 straight matches indoors, and she has her first title of 2022. Anyone who feared she might have a post-breakthrough slump after her early exit in Australia should feel better after today. Kontaveit played with the aggression and expressiveness that, since last August, we’ve come to expect from her, and which has made such a difference in her game. Like Auger-Aliassime, she’s a winner every day of the week now, including Sundays.