Fighting Felix sends Shelton to another Turin loss

Felix Auger-Aliassime teetered on the brink of a straight-sets loss in the second set but held his nerve to hand Ben Shelton a winless 0-2 record on Wednesday in a group win at the ATP Finals.

The Canadian who owns seven indoor titles flirted with outsted in the second set tiebreak, coming close to defeat.

But with American Shelton seeming angry and frustrated at times, the calm Canadian was able to steer himself to victory and a 1-1 record in the group fer almost two and a half hours on court.

After levelling the sets at one apiece as error-prone Shelton double-faulted to hand over the second set, FAA unleashed in the third.

Shelton, whose coach-father Bryan could not control his flow of sideline advice, saved a pair of match point but eventually sent a return floating long over the baseline.

The American is all but eliminated from semi-final contention after losing both of his matches so far in the north Italian city where the Fiat auto empire was born,

FAA produced his second victory at a year-end event after beating Rafael Nadal here in a 2022 group match; he limited his unforced errors in the Shelton match to just 22.

“He was playing much better than me at the start – it’s rare that I lose serve twice in a set indoors,” the winner said.

“I had a weird start, I was not feeling great. Once we engaged in the rallies, I felt like I could win more. 

“You just have to fight, believe, and play the next point the right way. I wanted to pressure him, make him doubt when he was serving.

“I felt good physically, I was able to play for almost two and a half hours. It was a high-quality, high-intensity match 

“I stayed cool in the tight moments and was able to find a way through.”

FAA will aim for a semi-final spot in his concluding group match on Friday against world No. 3 Alexander Zverev.