Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov lose at Halle Open in Round 16 of grass-court tourney

Canada's top men's tennis players all fell on Thursday on the European grass-court circuit.

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., lost in the Round of 16 at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany.

Auger-Aliassime served 12 aces but dropped a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 decision to Karen Khachanov. Shapovalov fell in a tight three-set battle, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (5), to Italy's Flavio Cobolli despite eight aces and five break points.

Later Thursday, Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov were eliminated a second time, 6-2, 6-2 in their doubles semifinal against Italian second seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.

In London at the HSBC Championships, Montreal's Gabriel Diallo was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic, who won 96 per cent of his first-serve points.

Diallo was coming off his first career win last week at the ATP 250 Libema Open.

Canada will take on Mexico and Denmark in a Billie Jean King Cup playoff from Nov. 14 to 16 in Monterrey, Mexico.

The winner of the Group A round robin advances to the 2026 Qualifiers of the women's tennis tournament. The other two countries will play in Regional Group I next year.

Each country will play each other in a one-day tie featuring two singles matches and one doubles match. The players representing each nation have yet to be confirmed.

Canada fell 2-1 this year in its qualifying tie against Japan in April, snapping a four-year streak of making the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

The 2023 champions will face Mexico in Billie Jean King Cup competition for the first time since January 2008, when Canada prevailed 3-0 in Medellin, Colombia.

Canada hasn't played against Denmark since 1991.

"I'm looking forward to returning to the Billie Jean