Canada's Auger-Aliassime ousted from Dubai Tennis Championships by Italy's Sonego

Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 loss to Italy's Lorenzo Sonego on Wednesday.

Sonego hit three winners in a tiebreaker to win an even first set that saw both players hold serve throughout.

The Italian scored the only break of the game to go up 4-3 in the second set. Auger-Aliassime had game point twice but failed to hold.

Sonego had two aces and served to love in the next game to take a 5-3 lead.

It was Auger-Aliassime's earliest exit at a tournament since the 22-year-old from Montreal, who entered the tournament ranked No. 9 in the world, lost his first match at a season-opening tournament in Adelaide, Australia.

He followed that with a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open, a quarterfinal appearance in Rotterdam, Netherlands and a semifinal berth in Doha, Qatar.

Sonego will face Germany's Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.