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Auger-Aliassime, who has struggled this season
with a knee injury and at times apparent loss of confidence,
suffered the first service break of the match in the fifth game
and that was all the Italian would need to capture the first
set.
But the Canadian turned the tables over the next two sets, never
being broken again while finding the range with his forehand and
moving well to extend points.
The 23-year-old beamed a broad smile when Berrettini's forehand
went long on match point, grateful for the bright spot in a thus
far disappointing 2023 campaign.
"My mindset today was no matter what happens, I wanted to have
the best attitude possible, the best effort from the first point
to the last," said Auger-Aliassime, who improved to 14-13 on the
season.
"And I feel like I was able to turn that frustration from the
first set - having break points and losing them, not being
careful enough with my service game - and turning that into
something positive to bounce back really strong.
"It has been a challenging season. I've been very fortunate,
every year I have grown in the game and improved my ranking but
this year it's a new challenge and I need to accept it as well."
The 12th seeded Auger-Aliassime will look to keep his winning
ways going in his first ever meeting with Frenchman Mannarino in
the second round.
Elsewhere, Australia's Jordan Thompson toppled American John
Isner in a pair of tiebreaks for a 7-6(5) 7-6(2) win in a match
where neither player broke serve and Isner crushed 20 aces.
Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori and Nicolas Jarry of Chile also
advanced in the morning before evening rain halted the play of
several other first-round matches at the U.S. Open tune-up
event.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by
Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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