Canadians Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov both dropped their first-round matches Tuesday at the BMW men's tennis tournament.
German teenager Diego Dedura-Palomero advanced to the second round when Shapovalov retired from the match due to injury. Auger-Aliassime, the third seed from Montreal, dropped a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) decision to Argentina's Mariano Navone.
Dedura-Palomero was leading 7-6 (2) 3-0 when the eight-seeded Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was forced to withdraw due to an unspecified injury. The 17-year-old German entered the tournament as a lucky loser after failing to earn a spot through qualifying.
Dedura-Palomero became the first player born in 2008 to win a main-draw match on the ATP Tour.
Shapovalov had five aces in the match -- Dedura-Palomero had none -- but also recorded three double faults (his opponent had none). The German also converted one of his three break points while 0-for-2.
Auger-Aliassime had more aces (2-0) than Navone but also more double-faults (5-3). And he was able to convert on 5-of-19 break-point attempts while Navone was 4-of-10 in that category.
The clay struggles came after Auger-Aliassime won two events on hard courts in the winter, while Shapovalov captured a hard-court title in Dallas.
-With files from Sportsnet Staff
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