It has been a tough begin for Canada’s males on the 2026 Australian Open.
A day after Gabriel Diallo of Montreal and Liam Draxl of Newmarket, Ont., misplaced their opening-round singles matches, Felix Auger-Aliassime was one and completed Down Below as effectively.
Auger-Aliassime, seeded seventh within the main match, beat 28-year-old Nuno Borges of Portugal 6-3 within the opener of their best-of-five match on Monday, however then misplaced 6-4, 6-4 after which retired with the rating tied 15-15 within the first recreation of the fourth set.
The Canadian appeared to battle with a leg harm all through the match.Â
Borges advances to play the winner of a first-round match between Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina and Australian wild card Jordan Thompson.
Qualifier Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., was trailing Priscilla Hon of Australia 5-3 within the decisive third set on Monday when she opted to retire after two hours of play.
Stakusic received the opening set 6-1, then misplaced 6-4, forcing a 3rd and deciding set.
The Canadian completed with two aces, 20 winners, 34 unforced errors and 5 double faults. Hon had three aces, two double faults, 22 unforced errors and 22 winners.
Victoria Mboko of Toronto was scheduled to play Emerson Jones of Australia within the first spherical of girls’s singles later within the day, whereas the Twenty first-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was scheduled to play Yunchaokete Bu of China.
