PARIS — Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is out of the French Open after a first-round loss.
The No. 19 seed from Montreal lost 7-5, 6-3, 6-3 to world No. 52 Yoshihito Nishioka at the clay-court Grand Slam on Monday.
The result continued a disappointing clay-court season for the 20-year-old Canadian. Since transitioning to the clay after a run to the fourth-round at the U.S. Open, Auger-Aliassime has won just one of four matches.
Auger-Aliassime had 58 unforced errors, 24 more than Nishioka.
Nishioka is now 2-0 lifetime against Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian lost a third-set tiebreaker to Nishioka in Indian Wells, Calif., last year.
Auger-Aliassime was one of three Canadians scheduled to play on the second day of the French Open.
Toronto qualifier Steven Diez was slated to make his main-draw debut at a Grand Slam against American Mackenzie McDonald, while Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que., was to face No. 31 seed Magda Linette of Poland.
No. 9 seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil are scheduled to play their first-round matches on Tuesday.
Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., won her first-round match on Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2020.