Felix Auger-Aliassime has won a major tournament for the first time in his young career beating Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in straight sets to win the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament (the Rotterdam Open).
The Montrealer dominated the match and beat Tsitsipas in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.
Victory came as a relief for the 21-year-old after losing his previous eight finals dating back to 2019.
"It's been not the smoothest road since my first final three years ago," Auger-Aliassime said in his on-court interview following the win. "It's been an amazing day for me to get this first title and especially here, (where) I've done my first ATP main draw a couple years ago so I guess it's right that I get my first ATP title here.
"Thank you for making it a special week that I will remember for the rest of my life. It's the happiest day of my career and hopefully this is the first of many to come."
Auger-Aliassime served seven aces and won 73 per cent of his first serves in addition to breaking Tsitsipas's serve three times. Coming in as the third-seed in the tournament, Auger-Aliassime has now beat Tsitsipas three times out of eight.
The son of a father from Togo and mother from Quebec, Aliassime can add his first singles trophy to a Paris Masters doubles title in 2020 and ATP Cup team competition title with fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov in January.
Auger-Aliassime can now join fellow young Quebec tennis phenom Leylah Annie Fernandez as champion.
Fernandez won the Monterrey Open in 2021, and came up just short of a Grand Slam title at the US Open last year, losing in the final to Brit Emma Raducanu.
The two Quebecers, along with Denis Shapovalov, Bianca Andreescu, Vasek Pospisil, and Milos Raonic are providing inspiration for young tennis hopefuls.
"They're creating the taste for kids to step on the court and pick up a racket," said Tennis Canada vice-president Eugene Lapierre. "That's our mission. We want to develop the game in Canada through those kids doing well on the international scene we can do that."
APPLAUDING QUEBEC'S STAR
Cheers came in from across social media on Sunday after the win.
"Felicitations!" wrote Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante.
