MELBOURNE, Australia — No. 7 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada retired from his first-round match with Nuno Borges of Portugal at the Australian Open on Monday.
Borges led 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 after just over two hours when Auger-Aliassime walked to the net to shake hands.
“I’m OK, but I just started cramping at the start of the third set,” the 25-year-old Canadian said. “Yeah, it became very difficult to be competitive at this level. I tried for a set, but yeah, wasn’t possible today.
“I can’t recall ever in my life (cramping) this early in a tournament, this early in a match.”
In other men’s first-round matches, three-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev beat Jesper De Jong 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (2) to continue a streak Down Under that included a title run in Brisbane. No. 19 seed Tommy Paul defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in an all-American match to advance along with Reilly Opelka and No. 13 Andrey Rublev.
Local hope Alex de Minaur, the No. 6 seed, beat Mackenzie McDonald — a lucky loser from qualifying who replaced the injured former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini — 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in an afternoon match on Rod Laver Arena.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
