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Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal scored a 6-3, 6-4 win over top-seeded Rafael Nadal in round-robin play at the ATP Finals on Tuesday.
Auger-Aliassime, seeded fifth in the season-ending men’s championship, won 81 per cent of his first serve points and delivered 15 aces
It was his first career win over the 22-time Grand Slam champion. Nadal had beaten Auger-Aliassime twice previously, including a gruelling five-set decision at the French Open in May.
The 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime opened the season-ending tournament on Sunday, losing 7-6 (4), 6-4 to Norway’s Casper Ruud.
Auger-Aliassime will next meet eighth-seeded American Taylor Fritz, while the 0-2 Nadal faces plays the third-seeded Rudd.
Auger-Aliassime earned his way to Turin with an impressive 16-match win streak, winning three of the final four ATP Tour events of the year.
He captured titles in Florence, Antwerp and Basel during that run and earlier in the season won in Rotterdam.
Auger-Aliassime earned a personal-best 56 wins this season, lifting him up to a career-high No. 6 world ranking.
Djokovic visa ban overturned
Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic is set to be granted a visa to play in next year’s Australian Open despite his high-profile deportation in January.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday said it had confirmed newspaper reports that the immigration minister had overturned a potential three-year exclusion period for Djokovic.
The Australian Border Force has previously said an exclusion period could be waived in certain circumstances — and that each case would be assessed on its merits.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles’ office declined comment on privacy grounds, meaning any announcement on Djokovic’s visa status would have to come from the 35-year-old Serbian tennis star.
The 21-time Grand Slam singles champion wasn’t allowed to defend his Australian Open title this year after a tumultuous 10-day legal saga over his COVID-19 vaccination status that culminated with his visa being revoked on the eve of the tournament.
Djokovic arrived at Melbourne Airport as the world’s top-ranked tennis player with a visa he’d obtained online and what he believed to be a valid medical exemption to the country’s strict laws for unvaccinated travelers because it was endorsed by Tennis Australia and the government of Victoria state, which hosts the tournament.
Confusion reigned, generating global headlines. As it transpired, that medical exemption allowed him entry to the tournament, which required all players, fans and officials to be vaccinated for the coronavirus, but not necessarily to enter the country. It was rejected by the Australian Border Force.
Alex Hawke, Australia’s immigration minister at the time, used discretionary powers to cancel Djokovic’s visa on character grounds, stating he was a “talisman of a community of anti-vaccine sentiment.”
Australia has had a change of government and changed its border rules this year and, since July 6, incoming travelers no longer have to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccinations. That removed the major barrier to entry for Djokovic.
It allowed him to apply to new Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to reconsider his visa status. In his favour, Djokovic left Australia quickly after his visa was revoked and has not publicly criticized Australian authorities.
As the Department of Home Affairs website explains, applicants in Djokovic’s circumstances must explain in writing to Australia’s border authorities why the exclusion period should be put aside — “you must show us that there are compassionate or compelling circumstances to put aside your re-entry ban and grant you the visa.”
Djokovic indicated Monday at the ATP Finals in Italy that his lawyers were communicating with the Australian government with a view to him contesting the Jan. 16-29 Australian Open.