Auger-Aliassime and van de Zandschulp make winning starts in Marrakech

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Botic van de Zandschulp made winning starts at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech.

Starting the clay season with a win is extremely important for Auger-Aliassime as the Canadian endured a very rough stretch during the Sunshine double struggling with form and consistency at those two events. It was a strange spot for Auger who started the season off in brilliant fashion. He played terribly on clay last year so getting off to a good start was imperative, especially against a native player.

Benchetrit is not a player whose level is top 100 worthy yet on clay in the right circumstances he can prove tricky to overcome. At times today, it seemed like the Morrocan player had things figured out but Auger always found a way around that. Felix saved all six break points he faced while converting 3 of 6 he had to secure the 6-3 6-3 win.

Joining him in the next round will be Botic van de Zandschulp who faced a lot more opposition from Hugo Dellien, noted clay-court specialists. The Bolivian won their previous two matches so it was sort of like an exorcism for the Dutch player to get past him. Botic opened well taking the first set with 6-3 but struggled a bit in the 2nd losing it 4-6.

Eventually, he took the lead in the final set once more and confirmed it a couple of times. The most crucial part came late in the match when he had a late hold that allowed him to finish off the match with 6-4.