AUGER-ALIASSIME TRIUMPHANT
Beats pal Pospisil at Rogers Cup
Félix Auger-Aliassime won his hometown singles debut at the Rogers Cup Tuesday, but not before he was pushed to the limit by his good friend, Vasek Pospisil.
The Canadians provided a near-capacity crowd with two hours and 33 minutes of high drama before Auger-Aliassime emerged with a 6-2, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3) win.
While Pospisil came up short, he said he was happy with the performance. This was only his fourth singles match since he returned from an eight-month layoff with a four-set loss to Auger-Aliassime at Wimbledon. He had back surgery in January and he struggled two weeks ago at the Granby Challenger because a wrist injury prevented him from hitting two-handed backhands.
“I’m happy with where my game is right now, for sure.” said Pospisil.” A month ago I played Félix at Wimbledon, but physically I didn’t feel quite ready. Physically I was having some issues today at the end. But I’m feeling like my game is there.”
Pospisil, who is from B.C., was a crowd favourite here in 2013 when he reached the semifinals, but it was clear the crowd Tuesday was firmly behind Auger-Aliassime.
“It would have been good to play someone that wasn’t a Canadian and just have a little bit more crowd support. It’s nice to feed off that at Rogers Cup. I felt like I was ready to win some matches this week. I was playing good enough. It was a tough draw considering who it was, what city it was in,” said Pospisil.
Auger-Aliassime, who will celebrate his 19th birthday on Thursday, got off to a fast start as he won 10 of the first 11 points. He broke Pospisil in the opening game, held his serve at love and then went ahead 30-0 on Pospisil’s serve.
At that point, Pospisil staged a brief rally. He came back to hold serve and then broke Auger-Aliassime to pull even at 2-2.
But it was all Auger-Aliassime from that point. He broke Pospisil in the fifth and seventh games and wrapped up the first set in 30 minutes.
But anyone who thought this was going to be a walk in the park for the rapidly rising Auger-Aliassime was mistaken.
The 29-year-old Pospisil picked up his game in the second set and the rivals held their serves through 12 games to force the tiebreaker. The key hold for Pospisil was in the fifth game when he failed to win his first three game points before holding for a 3-2 lead.
Auger-Aliassime fell apart in the tiebreaker with a double fault and three consecutive unforced errors while Pospisil went ahead 6-3 with a pair of service winners.
The third set followed the same script with the friendly rivals holding their serves to force a second tiebreaker. This time, it was Pospisil who made the errors while Auger-Aliassime produced four service winners.
Auger-Aliassime said he experienced some doubt when he fell behind 0-30 at 4-4 in the third set.
“Losing those two next points, probably the match would have been over,” said Auger-Aliassime. “What else can you do than just give it all? I tried to find a good first serve, play to win. That’s what I was able to do.”
The win sets up another all-Canadian matchup for Auger-Aliassime who will face 17th-seeded Milos Raonic of Richmond Hill, Ont., in the featured match Wednesday evening.
The key to this match could be Raonic’s health. The Canadians were scheduled to meet in the semifinals on the grass at Stuttgart in preparation for Wimbledon, but Raonic withdrew with a lower-back injury.
Raonic has also had a knee problem which sidelined him for the European clay-court circuit, including the French Open.
The only time Auger-Aliassime and Raonic met in a match, Raonic won 6-4, 6-4 last March in Indian Wells.
“It’s crazy to me that it’s just a year ago, a year and a half ago,” said Auger-Aliassime, who has gone from No. 108 to No. 21 this year.
“It feels like such a long time ago. Even if I look at myself physically back then, I changed a lot. Mentally, as well. For sure I have the confidence that I can win against these type of players.”
American John Isner, the 10th-seed, received a scare before he outlasted Australian Jordan Thomson 3-6, 6-3, 7-6
(6) in a two-hour and 20-minute marathon.
David Goffin became the first seeded player to lose. The 15th-seeded Belgian lost to Guido Pella of Argentina 6-4, 7-6.
Marin Cilic, the 14th seed from Croatia, had 19 aces as he defeated American qualifier Bradley Klahn 6-3, 7-6 and lucky loser John Millman of Australia outlasted qualifier Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
There was a minor surprise when British qualifier Daniel Evans defeated Alex De Minaur of Australia. The 20-year-old De Minaur is one of the stars of the ATP’s Next Gen program and is ranked 29th.