FOR HARDCORE TENNIS FANS, TUESDAY’S BEST MATCHUP MAY BE FOUND IN THE JUNIORS

Written by: Staff on 8th September 2015

FOR HARDCORE TENNIS FANS, TUESDAY'S BEST MATCHUP MAY BE FOUND IN THE JUNIORS

epa04919495 John Isner of the US throws his racquet to the ground in the second set as he plays Roger Federer of Switzerland during their match on the eighth day of the 2015 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 07 September 2015. The US Open runs through 13 September, which is a return to a 14-day schedule. EPA/JUSTIN LANE |

For hardcore tennis fans, Tuesday’s best matchup may be found in the juniors

By Ricky Dimon

While Novak Djokovic, Feliciano Lopez, Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried slug it out inside Arthur Ashe Stadium with spots in the U.S. Open men’s singles semifinals at stake, a much smaller gathering will be on hand at Court 5 during the afternoon hours of Tuesday.

That will be the setting for a second-round junior boys showdown between Tommy Paul and Felix Auger Aliassime.

Who? Well, hopefully you aren’t asking that question. But if you are, you will learn soon enough.

Paul is an 18-year-old American, a New Jersey native who trains in Boca Raton, Fla. He had signed to play tennis for the University of Georgia, a college powerhouse that was home to John Isner for four years. But Paul’s plans change when he won the French Open title earlier this season, and he decided to go pro.

Now he is looking to make a run at another junior trophy, but an extremely tough second-round matchup awaits him.

Auger Aliassime just turned 15 years old exactly one month ago. That’s right, the kid is 15. He cracked the top 800 in the world rankings at a mere 14 years old and he currently registers at 760th. The Canadian advanced to the quarterfinals of a Challenger event in July and took current world No. 128 Yoshihito Nishioka to three sets.

The experience playing at that level should help Auger Aliassime against fellow juniors–and it certainly did on Monday. Making his Grand Slam debut, the Montreal resident cruised past Taipei’s Tung-Lin Wu 6-2, 6-4 during first-round action. Auger Aliassime won all four of the break points in the match (three for three returning, one for one saved while serving) to advance in one hour and eight minutes.

“I think the transition (to a Grand Slam) went well,” he said in an interview with Yahoo! Canada. “At the beginning of the match, I kind of felt like I didn’t have a lot of rhythm. The surface was different, the atmosphere was different, being in a first Grand Slam was different,” he said. “But I adjusted well.”

Paul made similarly routine work of Estonian Mattias Siimar 6-4, 6-3. The crowd favorite struck 25 winners to his opponent’s eight as he sealed the deal in one hour and nine minutes.

Get your popcorn ready for Tuesday’s battle. If you’re a fan of both the present and the future, Paul vs. Auger Aliassime is the match to watch.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 10sballs.com, 2015 US Open, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Feliciano Lopez, Felix Auger Aliassime, Jo-Wilfried, John Isner, Junior Tennis, Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis News, Tommy Paul, Yoshihito Nishioka

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10sBalls_com says:

September 8, 2015 at 8:28 am

FOR HARDCORE #TENNIS FANS, TUESDAY’S BEST MATCHUP MAY BE FOUND IN THE JUNIORS- http://t.co/dyxc7xF7yw @Dimonator @usopen #USOpen2015