Sandgren Makes Late Charge, Downs Felix In New York
Tennys Sandgren held his nerve late in the deciding set to complete a memorable 6-7(4), 6-2, 7-6(5) comeback victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Monday at the Western & Southern Open.
The Australian Open quarter-finalist found himself a game from defeat as Auger-Aliassime served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but Sandgren broke to love and claimed victory in a tense final-set tie-break. Sandgren has now won three of his five matches against Top 20 players in 2020.
"Today was tough," said Sandgren. "We were both struggling a little bit, but you just try to be positive and hope it works out for you... [You] try to be proactive in those moments rather than reactive, because it seems like the player who grabs the match by the reins in those later stages ends up getting the win."
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On his Western & Southern Open main draw debut, Sandgren is through to the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time. Sandgren entered the event with a 1-6 record at the Masters 1000 level.
Sandgren’s reward for his comeback win is a third-round meeting with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or qualifier Ricardas Berankis. The American trails Djokovic 0-2 in their ATP Head2Head series and won his only previous ATP Head2Head match against Berankis at the 2018 Winston-Salem Open.