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Canadians Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov to meet again in U.S. Open first round
Felix Auger-Aliassime didn’t have much time to savour his first career appearance at the U.S. Open.
Overcome with heart palpitations during his first-round match last year against fellow Canadian and good friend Denis Shapovalov, the Montreal teenager had his main-draw debut at a Grand Slam end abruptly when he was forced to retire in the third set.
While things are much different for Auger-Aliassime now — he’s ranked No. 19 in the world, nearly 20 spots higher than Shapovalov — he still looks back on that match frequently.
“Even though I wasn’t able to finish it, it was still a great memory,” Auger-Aliassime said Thursday in a phone interview with The Canadian Press. “That’s a dream I had since I was a kid to play in the U.S. Open, and my family was there to witness it.