Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime upset at National Bank Open

TORONTO — Felix Auger-Aliassime has been upset at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, and his run for a national title lasted just one hour and 41 minutes.

“It’s tough,” the 24-year-old from Montreal said, when it was over.

On Wednesday night in front of a packed centre court crowd at Sobeys Stadium, Auger-Aliassime lost his first match here, a 6-4, 6-4 decision to world No. 56 Fabian Marozsan.

Canada’s top-ranked man, the tournament’s 21st seed, is out.

“Obviously playing in Canada, it’s more disappointing,” Auger-Aliassime said. “You feel like, okay, you want to play as many matches as possible. When you lose in an opening match, it’s tough. I’ve been there obviously before in my career, but it never feels better. So it’s not easy.”

Wednesday marked the third straight year Auger-Aliassime has lost his first match at his national open.

The world No. 28 was playing in his first match since he lost in the round of 64 at Wimbledon. On the men’s side, only Gabriel Diallo is left among Canadians in the NBO draw after a two-set victory earlier Wednesday.

Like Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov lost his opening round match here a night before.

It started off well for Auger-Aliassime, who went up an early break to take a 2-0 lead in the first set. He started the second set the same way, and was broken right back.

It was a windy night on centre court, and the Canadian struggled with his serve — he had five double faults and two aces. “I wasn’t serving great,” he said. “He just did a little bit better than I did at dealing with that, for sure.”

Auger-Aliassime didn’t feel like nerves were getting to him, and certainly in the early goings he looked calm and in control, dominating the first two games.

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“There's always nerves, but how you're going to deal with that in the first few games — I thought I did pretty well,” he said. “Then after, it's a game of him adjusting, me adjusting to him, and kind of finding the better compromise. At times he played like there was no wind. He played high-risk tennis and it paid off. Maybe I was a bit too conservative.

“That's one take, but if I had to play the match again, I don't know if I would do much differently. Sometimes he was just too good.”

Fans broke out in “Let’s go Felix, let’s go!” cheers, urging the Canadian to rally back. When he faced a second break point in the second set, the crowd cheered loudly. Auger-Aliassime rushed the net, and Marozsan made an incredible shot to win the point.

Auger-Aliassime’s best finish at the NBO was the quarter-finals in 2022.

When his 2025 edition was over not long after it began, he packed his bags and left the court, with a small wave and a clap for fans.

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