Felix Auger-Aliassime gave Canadian tennis fans something to smile about on the opening day at Wimbledon.
Following losses for Denis Shapovalov, Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez, Auger-Aliassime crushed world No. 99 Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 on Monday at the grass-court Grand Slam.
The third-seeded Auger-Aliassime never faced a break point and had 37 winners to Shevchenko’s seven.
Auger-Aliassime, from Montreal, will next face world No. 89 Dino Prizmic of Croatia.
For Shapovalov, meanwhile, Monday’s match was a continuation of a nightmare season.
The Canadian retired with a shoulder injury after the second set of his first-round match against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.
Shapovalov played one more point to lose the second-set tiebreak after suffering the injury while trying to chase down the ball. He then retired while trailing 6-3, 7-6 (7).
It marked the second Grand Slam in a row in which Shapovalov exited in the first round. He was ousted in the second round of the Australian Open.
He finished with 14 aces but landed just 53 per cent of his first serves before the injury ended his afternoon. It was Carreno Busta’s first-ever win at the All England Club.
Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., is now 9-14 on the year and his ranking has dropped to No. 41.
Andreescu also lost in the first round after making it through the qualifying rounds.
The 2019 US Open champion fell 7-6 (3), 7-6 (6) to Zhang Shuai of China.
Leylah Fernandez also saw her time at the All England Club come to an early end when she lost 6-1, 7-6 (3) against Indonesia’s Janice Tjen.
Fernandez only had one break-point opportunity in the match, which she failed to convert.
Canada’s Gabriel Diallo is scheduled to open on Tuesday.
— With files from the Canadian Press