Defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime defeats Stan Wawrinka in Montpellier | ATP Tour
match report
Defending champion Auger-Aliassime beats Wawrinka in Montpellier
Nardi pisses off Coboli; Grikspur, Drog advance to ATP 250
February 5, 2026
@Open Occitanie | TV sports events
Felix Auger-Aliassime in action against Montpellier on Thursday.
Sam Jacott
Defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime made a winning start to his title defense at the Occitanie Open on Thursday, defeating wild card Stan Wawrinka, who was playing his last ATP 250 event.
In the pair’s first Lexus ATP head-to-head match, top seed Auger-Aliassime defeated the 40-year-old Swiss star 6-4, 7-6(3) to advance to the quarterfinals in Montpellier.
Auger-Aliassime, 25, retired last month in the first round of the Australian Open against Nuno Borges but made a comeback against Wawrinka to move closer to his ninth tour title.
“I know him very well,” Auger-Aliassime said of Wawrinka. “Watching him become a legend over the years, all of our young players dream of a career like his. Winning, but toughness, hard work and consistency.
“He’s a role model for all our young players. We’d never played in the tournament before, which is crazy, and I told him in the dressing room in Australia, ‘We’ve never played in the tournament before, which is crazy,’ and then it happened. It was great to share the pitch with him.”
Canada’s Auger-Aliassime has racked up a tour-leading 86 indoor victories since the turn of the century, including seven titles in these conditions. The PIF ATP No. 8 player will next face sixth seed Arthur Fiers or Ugo Blanchet.
Luca Nardi defeated second seed Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 for his third top-20 win. Nardi reaches the quarter-finals at tour level for the second time and holds a 4-0 lead over Coboli in the Lexus ATP head-to-head series. Nardi will face Martin Dahm in the quarter-finals, while Coboli will travel to Dallas for the ATP 500 event, aiming to bounce back from first-round defeats at the Australian Open and Montpellier.
Fourth seed Talon Grikspoor defeated Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-4 for his first win since October. The Dutchman will next face French qualifier Titouan Droghet, whose home side defeated last year’s finalist Alexander Kovacevic 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
