Canadians Mboko – Victoria Mboko coasted past Nikola Bartunkova as Felix Auger-Aliassime fought through a five-set battle with Daniel Altmaier, sending both seeded Canadians into the French Open’s second round.
On Tuesday, the French Open’s clay handed out two very different kinds of tests to Canada’s seeded players. Victoria Mboko barely broke a sweat. Felix Auger-Aliassime did the opposite—surviving a five-set grind that swung hard, then swung back.
Mboko, the ninth seed in the women’s draw, opened with a decisive performance against Czechia’s Nikola Bartunkova. She won 6-1, 6-2 in 69 minutes, sailing through with control and converting pressure when it mattered. The 19-year-old from Burlington, Ont., came into the match after reaching the final of the Strasbourg International tournament last week. She converted her sixth break in 10 chances. and in a match that looked one-sided. she faced just two break points—defending one.
It was her second appearance at the clay-court Grand Slam. Last year, she advanced to the third round in her debut. This time, she moves on to a new challenge in the second round against another Czech opponent, Katerina Siniakova. Siniakova is 30, ranked No. 36 in the world in singles. and is also part of the top-ranked doubles team at Roland Garros alongside American Taylor Townsend.
Across the draw, Auger-Aliassime’s match had a different mood. The 25-year-old from Montreal, the men’s fourth seed, entered with nine aces on the deadening clay at Roland Garros. What he couldn’t ignore was the break-point chaos—13 break points faced, and five of them not defended.
Still, the match didn’t end neatly. Auger-Aliassime found a way back from a deficit. coming back from 4-1 down in the final set against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier to win 4-6. 6-4. 4-6. 6-1. 7-6 (7). He had six breaks of his own. including a key conversion that cut Altmaier’s lead in the fifth set to 4-3. Altmaier even led the fifth set tiebreaker before Auger-Aliassime stormed back, winning the final two points on return.
With the win secured, Auger-Aliassime will face Argentina’s Roman Andres Burruchaga in the second round.
Not every Canadian day ended with a second-round ticket. Denis Shapovalov showed flashes of power but couldn’t keep his game clean on the slow clay. He recorded 10 aces, yet managed eight double faults and 48 unforced errors. His elimination came earlier on Tuesday when he was knocked out of the tournament with a 6-4. 7-5. 6-4 loss to Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria.
Faria struck at the moments that mattered. He scored a key break to go up 6-5 in the second set before serving for the win. putting Shapovalov on the brink of elimination. In the third set, Faria went up 2-1 with an early break. Shapovalov fought back by winning the next game on return. but another break restored Faria’s lead. and then Faria served out from there.
Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., entered Roland Garros ranked 39th in the world. After the loss, his season record slipped to 8-11.
French Open Roland Garros Victoria Mboko Felix Auger-Aliassime Nikola Bartunkova Daniel Altmaier Katerina Siniakova Roman Andres Burruchaga Denis Shapovalov Jaime Faria Canadian tennis
Wait so did he win in 5 sets or 6? Tennis scoring is confusing af.
Mboko basically walked through that match, good for her. But Felix sounds like he was fighting for his life the whole time lol.
I saw the headline and thought it said “reach French Open second round” for both, but then I’m reading “five-set battle” and now I’m lost. If he started with nine aces, why did it go to a tie breaker? Shouldn’t aces just end it
So Mboko beat the Czech girl 6-1 6-2 in like an hour, and then Felix is out here getting broken nonstop? Kinda makes Canada look like two different teams. Also I swear I’ve heard of Siniakova doing doubles stuff with that Taylor Townsend American lady, so it’s gonna be another weird matchup.