Felix Auger-Aliassime secured one of the most lucrative wins of his career on a clay court as he was crowned UTS champion in front of a huge crowd at the Arénes de Nîmes in Southern France.

The Canadian, who is currently secured a $301,000 prize and the most prestigious clay court title of his career with a sudden death victory over defending UTS Nimes champion and Casper Ruud.

Over 21,000 people packed the iconic Roman amphitheatre over two days with 13,000 for the final day, the biggest crowd ever recorded for a UTS Tour event.

They were treated to some thrilling tennis, thanks to UTS’s unique fast-paced format and scoring system.

Auger-Aliassime managed to eke out a tight sudden-death decider after levelling the match at two quarters each, taking the match 10-11, 14-10, 15-14, 15-11 and 2-0 and earning himself a noisy ovation which rang around the historic venue.

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“I’ve grown used to high-pressure situations throughout my career, whether I’m playing for a tournament final or representing my country,” said Auger-Aliassime.

The Canadian was part of a strong line-up in Nimes, including Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov, Karen Khachanov, Andrey Rublev, Alexander Bublik and Ugo Humbert.

Auger-Aliassime and Ruud could be on course for a rematch at next week’s Monte-Carlo Masters, as the duo are in the same section of the draw and could both be quarter-final opponents for world No 2 Jannik Sinner in the first ATP 1000 event of the season on clay courts.

The UTS event is the brainchild of coaching guru Patrick Mouratoglou, who told Tennis365 that the concept is designed to bring a new audience to tennis.

“The more we grow, the more attractive we are to players, and we are thankful to the ones who have believed from the start and who have been present almost every event, but yes, there are two or three names which we would love to have.

“Fans can love classical tennis and they can also love UTS. The goal of UTS is mostly to bring new fans to tennis and younger fans, but of course, any tennis fan is more than welcome.

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“I don’t even understand how traditional tennis events can complain about having competition from UTS. You know, in every single field in the world, there is competition.

“If someone plays UTS, a player, he loves it, he thinks it improves his game because it’s played differently and it pushes them to also develop other things.

“So I think everybody’s winning there and again, I don’t see any problem with competition. I think if in the world, if there was, there would be no competition, it would be a disaster.”

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