Felix Auger-Aliassime’s clay-court season is off to a quick start.

The top seed defeated Moroccan wild card Elliot Benchetrit 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II on his tournament debut. The Canadian saved all six break points he faced to triumph after one hour and 24 minutes.

Next up for the World No. 9, who also received a wild card, will be Slovakian lefty Alex Molcan or Italian Stefano Travaglia. This is Auger-Aliassime’s first time competing in the ATP 250, but Marrakech is a familiar place.

“I love this country. Of course I think everybody knows now that I have my girlfriend and some family that’s from here,” Auger-Aliassime said ahead of his opening match. “Of course to play also on the African continent, it’s the only tournament we have on the Tour that’s played here on this continent, so that’s special for me.

“It’s awesome to be here, honestly. I’m loving every minute to play in this mythical place.”

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#NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti also advanced with a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory against fourth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The 20-year-old, who is pursuing his first ATP Tour title this week, broke serve five times to move on after one hour and 41 minutes. Musetti will face another Spaniard, Carlos Taberner, for a spot in the quarter-finals. Taberner led Yannick Hanfmann 6-2, 1-0 when the German retired. 

A #NextGenATP player who was unable to reach the second round was Czech Jiri Lehecka, whom Serbian Laslo Djere eliminated 6-4, 6-4. Portugal’s Joao Sousa ousted 2016 champion Federico Delbonis 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Other players who advanced were sixth seed Botic van de Zandschulp and Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri.

Monday’s play at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship was rained out in Houston, postponing the start of main-draw play.

A full slate of Tuesday matches begins with eighth seed Jenson Brooksby taking on wild card J.J. Wolf.  The stadium court’s evening action will begin with a battle of former champions as fifth seed and 2019 winner Cristian Garin takes on 2015 champ Jack Sock. Garin returns to Houston as defending champion, with the event not held the past two seasons.

Nick Kyrgios will also be in action on the show court against Ameican Mackenzie McDonald.

A pair of all-American matches is also among the highlights on the Tuesday stadium schedule. Two-time champion Steve Johnson (2017-18) will square off against countryman Denis Kudla, while sixth seed Frances Tiafoe faces Marcos Giron in an all-American nightcap.

Doubles action will also begin on Tuesday, with two matches on tap.

No. 11 Carlos Alcaraz, +5 (Career High)
The rising Spanish star continues to climb the ATP Rankings following his title run at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where he became the youngest champion in the event’s history. Entering the South Florida event one year ago, Alcaraz had yet to break into the Top 100. The 18-year-old is now knocking on the door of the Top 10 after his historic Miami run in which he defeated three current members of that elite group. Read Miami Final Report & Watch Highlights.

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No. 10 Cameron Norrie, +2 (Career High)
Great Britain’s Norrie makes his Top 10 debut after reaching the last 16 in Miami, where he fell to eventual finalist Casper Ruud. The 26-year-old earned that distinction with the help of his Delray Beach title in February, when he beat Opelka in the final.

No. 51 Francisco Cerundolo, +52 (Career High)
Entering Miami with an 0-2 career ATP Tour record on hard courts, the Argentine scored the result of his young career by reaching the semi-finals at Hard Rock Stadium. He got past four seeded players on the way, upsetting Reilly Opelka (second-set retirement), Gael Monfils, Frances Tiafoe and Jannik Sinner (first-set retirement). The 23-year-old had spent two weeks in the Top 100 previously, when he was ranked No. 76 for two weeks beginning in late February.

No. 38 Miomir Kecmanovic, +10 (Career High)
One of the most consistent players of the 2022 ATP Tour season, Kecmanovic reached his fourth straight quarter-final last week in Miami. He had a tough road to the last eight in Miami, getting past Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round and dismissing Indian Wells champion Taylor Fritz in the Round of 16 — that result earning the Serb a measure of revenge after a loss to the American in California.

No. 85 Thanasi Kokkinakis, +12 
The Aussie qualified into both Indian Wells and Miami, and made the most of his opportunity in South Florida by reaching the Round of 16, defeating 13th seed Diego Schwartzman on the way. This year’s Adelaide 2 singles champion also reached the Miami doubles semi-finals with countryman Nick Kyrgios, with whom he won the Australian Open doubles crown in January.

Monday’s action at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech was brought to an early close prior to the start of main-draw play due to heavy rain in Morocco.

Seventh seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and eighth seed Laslo Djere were among those on the day’s schedule, with Henri Laaksonen and Richard Gasquet set to square off on centre court.

The ATP 250 event, which opens the Tour’s clay swing alongside Houston, was set to begin main-draw play after the conclusion of four qualifying matches — none of which were completed before the rain. As a result of the delays, 12 main-draw singles matches are on the schedule for Tuesday, with top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime and second seed Daniel Evans on the centre court slate.

The Marrakech event was last played in 2019, when Benoit Paire took the title. While the Frenchman is not in the 2022 draw, former champions Pablo Andujar (2011-12, ’18) and Federico Delbonis (2016) are competing this week in North Africa.

Left-handed. Known to sport a bandana. Speedy around the court. Possesses forehand spin and a crisp, flat backhand. Member of the Top 10. Rafael Nadal might most aptly fit the description, but Cameron Norrie ticks those boxes, too.

He tipped his fellow British left-hander Jack Draper to one day make the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings after their clash at the Miami Open presented by Itau last month, but for Norrie that day arrives today. Anyone who watches the 26-year-old knows he has grown to become one of the game’s fiercest competitors. Indeed, a tough out.

Simply glance at the players to get the better of him this season. Their average rank is 15. Two of the last four to down Norrie won those tournaments, with the other two, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud, duelling in Sunday’s Miami final.

Norrie’s title at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com (d. Opelka) in February demonstrated his ability to overcome adversity. He lost his first four encounters of 2022, saying he played “maybe my worst match in the last eight months or so” in a first-round defeat at the Australian Open to one of last year’s NextGen artists, Sebastian Korda. But Norrie edged Korda in a third-set tie-break in the Delray Beach quarter-finals and kept on going.

These boys with me through the thick and thin. TOP 10 Debut – let’s keep going for more 🐆⚡️ @licjulianromero @Faculugones #check pic.twitter.com/i06eF3sqAk

— Cameron Norrie (@cam_norrie) April 2, 2022

Nadal noted Norrie’s immense progress after beating him in the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco the following week.

“Winning last week in Delray Beach, now playing the final here, back-to-back is a difficult thing,” Nadal, an avid tennis observer in addition to being the record 21-time Grand Slam champion, said in the winner’s speech. “You had an amazing season last year, improving a lot on the ranking, and of course, in the level of tennis.”

Norrie bobs up and down waiting to receive serve, reminiscent of another Spanish gladiator, David Ferrer. On the subject of Spain, an indication of what was to come for Norrie transpired in Davis Cup action in Marbella in 2018. Ranked 114 at the time, he came from two sets down to beat one of tennis’ most resilient competitors, Roberto Bautista Agut. It remains Bautista Agut’s lone career defeat when leading by two sets.

Norrie earned All-America honours at Texas Christian University in the U.S. in a collegiate stint that drastically shaped his career, more so even than his Davis Cup heroics on the clay.   

Remember a young Ferrer being disciplined by coach Javier Piles for not working hard enough and later entering construction for a very brief spell when he thought tennis wasn’t for him? Norrie, by his own admission, wasn’t fully committed to his tennis at TCU in his early days. A moped accident that required stitches following a night out altered his mindset, he said.

Andy Murray, who knows a thing or two about putting in the work, complimented Norrie after he bagged his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (d. Basilashvili) last October.

“I think he’s a great example for not just British players but all tennis players to look at and go, if you put the effort in day in, day out and properly dedicate yourself to the sport, have an attitude like he does, it can take you a long, long way,” said the three-time Grand Slam winner.

Game-wise, similar to Nadal, Ferrer and Bautista Agut, Norrie does not necessarily win quick service points. His average ace count in his remarkable 2021 term — when he appeared in six finals and soared from 71 to 12 in the year-end ATP Rankings — stood at 4.7. He builds points behind the serve and uses his stellar movement to counter returns when stretched.

Meanwhile, Norrie ranked fifth in return games won last year and seventh in return points won on first serve. That combination of spin and loop on the forehand, and flatter backhand, presents rivals with an awkward mix, especially given the dearth of left-handers on tour.

His finals in 2021 came on hard courts, grass and clay, in Europe and North America. Auckland marked the site of his first, special, final in 2019. He grew up in the iconic New Zealand city, where first coach Julia Sim made, perhaps, the first huge decision in Norrie’s career — turning him from a right-hander to left-hander.

Along with being born in Johannesburg and residing in London, Norrie figures to be one of the most cosmopolitan of the 177 players to ever break the Top 10. In a sport where acclimatising to new environments, and quickly, is pivotal, his worldly background would seem to put him at ease on his travails.

With the Asian swing returning this year, Norrie has the opportunity to make a final in another continent.

For now it is the red clay, at a time when his career is at green for ‘go.’

Carlos Alcaraz is not just the future, but the present.

After winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title on Sunday at the Miami Open presented by Itau, the Spanish teen soared to second place in the ATP Race To Turin, which will decide the eight players who compete at the Nitto ATP Finals from 13-20 November.

After last year’s Miami Open presented by Itau, Alcaraz was 110th in the Race. But the reigning Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals champion already has 1,950 points thanks to his title Sunday along with an ATP 500 trophy at the Rio Open presented by Claro and a semi-final run at the BNP Paribas Open among other impressive results. He is 18-2 on the season and pursuing his first berth into the season finale in Turin.

The only player ahead of Alcaraz is his idol and countryman Rafael Nadal, who claimed a record-extending 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. The 35-year-old, who has 3,350 points, enjoyed the best start to a season of his career by winning his first 20 matches. Nadal owns a 1,400-point lead over Alcaraz leading into the clay-court season.

The man who ended Nadal’s perfect start to 2022 was American Taylor Fritz, who is fourth in the Race with 1,520 points after winning his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells. Like Alcaraz, the American is also trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

ATP Race To Turin Standings (4 April)

Daniil Medvedev, who has earned a spot at the year-end championships in each of the past three years, is third with 1,900 points. The 2020 Nitto ATP Finals titlist is 16-5, including a run to the Australian Open final, where he lost against Nadal in five sets.

The fifth through eighth spots in the Race currently belong to 2019 champion Stefanos Tsitsipas (1,440), Felix Auger-Aliassime (1,420), Andrey Rublev (1,390) and Casper Ruud (1,020). Of that quartet, Auger-Aliassime is the one chasing his first Nitto ATP Finals qualification. Ruud climbed 14 spots into eighth after advancing to his maiden Masters 1000 final in Miami.

The top two Italians in the Race are ninth-placed Matteo Berrettini (945) and Jannik Sinner (800).

Did You Know?
Seven of the top eight players in the Race are 26 or younger. The only exception is 35-year-old Nadal, who first competed in the Nitto ATP Finals in 2006, when the event was called the Tennis Masters Cup.