Auger-Aliassime Turns Away Wolf To Win Florence Title

Felix Auger-Aliassime collected his second career ATP title on Sunday downing JJ Wolf 6-4, 6-4 to win the Florence title.

“It never gets old. Winning, it always feels like the first time,” Auger-Aliassime told the crowd. “It’s so special to win, especially here. I had a fantastic week and it’s been amazing.”

Auger-Aliassime had lost his first nine tour finals until breaking through earlier this year in Rotterdam. He’s now won two of his last three finals.

“Every final is tough, it’s the two best players of the week,” he said. “Of course you try to win more than you lose the finals and that’s why I came out here today ready to give everything. We had some very tough rallies in the second set, feeling tough physically. But you keep pushing, try to keep the level high.

“But there’s no magic. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but of course I’m really happy because I came here the first seed. I was the favorite in all of my matches on paper. It’s never an easy position, so to come out and win my four matches with confidence and conviction, it’s really good for my confidence.”

The win also bolsters his chances of making the final eight in Turin next month.

“The plan right now is to play every week, to play in Antwerp, Basel and Paris because there are still tournaments to play and the Race is very close,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There players like Taylor and Andrey, and many others are competing hard right now to try and qualify, so I’m going to try to put myself in the best position possible to try and make it to Turin.”

Wolf, a year older than the Canadian at 23, was appearing in his first ATP final. He posted wins over Maxime Cressy, Alexander Bublik and then in his first tour semifinal he eliminated Mikael Ymer.