Tennis Prediction Felix Auger-Aliassime vs Titouan Droguet: Montreal

🇨🇦 Montreal

• Felix Auger-Aliassime won't have many other opportunities like this one. He's world #4, at the best ranking of his career, he's playing at home in Montreal, and the draw has been cleared of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic. He has never won a Masters 1000 title yet.

• Facing him tonight is Titouan Droguet, world #119, who has already won two rounds here and deserves to be mentioned. But the two men met in February in Montpellier, and the Canadian came out on top in three sets. The Frenchman has also spent a lot of time on court to get here, with both of his matches going to a deciding set.

• And even though Felix has never really shone at home (5W-6L), I think he has taken his tennis to a new level, and he should dispose of a profile like Droguet easily in the night session.

• My reservation on this spot is this: he hasn't played since his quarterfinal loss against Djokovic at Wimbledon a month ago, and he has parted ways with the coach who had been with him for 10 years. He's coming back in an unusual context, that can't be ignored.

• On the other side, Arthur Fils, and a very different profile. The Frenchman has spent a season repairing his body, first his back then his hip. But when he's on court, the level is there: a title in Barcelona, semifinals in Miami and Madrid, and Andrey Rublev on his list of victims this spring.

• Facing him, Zachary Svajda is coming in hot, after benefiting from Denis Shapovalov's retirement last night. He's having a real good hard court season and is precisely the kind of opponent capable of bothering anyone for a set.

• But I wasn't necessarily impressed by the American's performance yesterday: over 35 unforced errors, which is clearly a blemish.

• In the long run, however, the gap in level remains what it is. Two players established in the top 25 against a #87 and a #119 who have spent a lot of energy to get this far. At that price, I'll take the double.