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A late decision to take a wild card into the Montpellier ATP Tour event paid off for Félix Auger-Aliassime.

The 25-year-old, who was forced to retire when he cramped in his first-round match at the Australian Open against Portugal’s Nuno Borges, decided to defend his 2025 title after all.

He ran through to the title with the loss of just one set, beating Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-6 (4) in Sunday’s final.

With his ninth career title, he now is the all-time Canadian leader.

“I was aware of it, because the last tournament I won, I knew I had tied Raonic’s record. So I remembered the number eight, and that with the next one I would be the player with the most titles,” Auger-Aliassime told Open Court by phone from Montpellier. “It’s a nice success, a big source of pride for me, a little guy from Montreal who dreamed of being a professional player.”

Auger-Aliassime moves up two spots in the rankings, back up to No. 6 and just a few points ahead of Taylor Fritz at No. 7 and Alex de Minaur at No. 8. It’s going to be a little like this all year, though, because of the calendar cycle going from most tournaments being on their earliest possible dates to their latest. Alex de Minaur, who reached the Rotterdam final, sees his points from that effort drop in Monday – right when he starts his quest at this year’s edition in Rotterdam.

***WHY IS THIS MAN SMILING? You don’t see it much from Mannarino. But it happened here.***

Change in plans

The overarching scheduling plan for Félix Auger-Aliassime in 2026 was to play fewer ATP 250 events, which had become a necessity a year ago when he wanted to get his ranking up where he thought it should be.

Mission accomplished, so he didn’t defend his title in Adelaide the week before the Australian Open. And he hadn’t planned to defend Montpellier, either.

Cramps take FAA out in the first round of the Australian Open

But the retirement after three sets of the match against Borges in Melbourne meant that plans changed.

“I was really ready to play (in Melbourne), but obviously not in optimal form as you could see by the cramps. So I wanted to compete quickly, and this was the first tournament available,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I don’t know if it was that same day or the next day, but we discussed it right away. And I had nearly two weeks of training before coming here. So it was very profitable. And it allowed me to rebound quickly.”

Auger-Aliassime now heads to Rotterdam, site of his first career ATP Tour title in 2022. He’s the No. 2 seed, and will play Australia’s Alexei Popyrin in the first round.

Lefties hard to come by

For whatever reason, Auger-Aliassime has hardly played any lefties in the last year and a half.

And none of them had anything to do with the unique brand of leftiness the 37-year-old Mannarino brings to the court.

There was Juan Manuel Cerundolo outdoors on clay in Madrid last April, Chilean-Canadian Alejandro Tabilo in Shanghai last September, and Ben Shelton in the round-robin portion of last November’s ATP Finals. That’s it.

“I felt like I hadn’t seen one for awhile. And on stop of that, he’s the ultimate caricature of a lefty – way over on the ad side, serving that slow slice. Most players don’t look for so much angle, but he’s played his whole career like that,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It’s complicated. I don’t necessarily like playing that type of player, but to win you have to get through those. So I’m doubly satisfied.”

Before Mannarino, Auger-Aliassime faced a game Stan Wawrinka, the talented but rusty Arthur Fils, and the game qualifier Titouan Droguet, who sneaked the second set in a tiebreak.

Eighth visit to Rotterdam

Auger-Aliassime first played Rotterdam in 2018, when he was still 17 and just on the comeup at No. 168 in the rankings. When he returned two years later, he reached the final. In 2022, he won it – beating Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.

A year ago, headed to Rotterdam after the Montpellier title, he retired after the second set of his opening match against qualifier Andrea Vavassori with a toe issue he’d first suffered in practice.

So he has little to defend, and all to gain; the five players ahead of him in Monday’s rankings are not competing.

Davis Cup back on the radar

Auger-Aliassime kept track of the Team Canada dramatics during Davis Cup weekend in Vancouver, and watched the fifth and deciding match between Liam Draxl and Gustavo Heide of Brazil.

Draxl channels Pospisil and becomes Canada’s Davis Cup hero

“Lots of drama. Lots of reactions. It made me smile when I saw it,” he said.

More pertinently, the win gives Canada another home tie, in September right after the US Open.

They’ll face France. And Auger-Aliassime might be there.

“A lot can happen between now and then, but given all that, I’ll definitely give more serious consideration to putting it on the schedule,” he said.

(Screenshots from Tennis Channel’s livestream)