(Mason) Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated in controversy on Friday evening in the third round of the Cincinnati Open.
With his opponent Jack Draper serving for the match at 40-30, Auger-Aliassime returned the ball and it hit the Briton’s racket, then the ground, before crossing to the other side of the net.
Rather than having the point and ending up tied (40-40) as it should have been, Auger-Aliassime saw the referee give the victory to Draper in three sets of 5-7, 6-4 and 6-4.
Le Québécois a argumenté pendant de longues minutes avec l’officiel Greg Allensworth, qui est celui qui avait également été impliqué dans la controverse avec le Canadien Denis Shapovalov, à Washington, il y a deux semaines.
Malgré tout, Allensworth n’a pas changé d’avis.
Lors de cet affrontement, Auger-Aliassime a réussi 12 as, mais a également commis 12 doubles fautes.
PHOTO SUSAN MULLANE, USA TODAY SPORTS
Accolade entre Félix Auger-Aliassime et Jack Draper après le match
Plus tôt dans la journée, Auger-Aliassime avait rapidement défait le Norvégien Casper Ruud, septième tête de série, 6-3 et 6-1. Classé 19e au monde, le Canadien a prévalu en 67 minutes, notamment en inscrivant les 14 as de la rencontre.
Auger-Aliassime a dominé 5-1 pour les bris, en plus d’obtenir 86 % des points disputés sur ses premières balles.
Chez les dames, la Québécoise Leylah Annie Fernandez, 26e à la WTA, a battu la Russe Diana Shnaider, 20e au monde, en deux manches de 6-1 et 6-4.
Fernandez accusait un retard de 4-1 à la seconde manche lorsque le jeu a été interrompu par la pluie.
« C’est grâce à votre soutien [les partisans] “I came back strong after that break,” she said on the court after her match. “My coaches also helped me a lot to keep the right attitude.”
PHOTO SUSAN MULLANE, USA TODAY SPORTS
Leylah Fernandez
Fernandez converted four of her 10 break points while firing seven aces. She also won 81 percent of the points she played on her first serve.
In the quarter-finals, the 21-year-old Quebecer will face American Jessica Pegula, who defeated her compatriot Taylor Townsend 6-2, 6-3.
Fernandez also won the doubles with Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in the evening. They beat the competition favourites, Townsend and Czech Kateřina Siniaková, in three sets of 2-6, 6-1 and 10-6.
Gaël Monfils causes surprise, but…
Frenchman Gaël Monfils caused a major surprise by beating Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
The duel began on Thursday evening, but was interrupted by rain with the second seed leading 6-4, 6-6 (1/3).
Monfils, 37, came out strong Friday to win the tiebreaker 7-5 and was more consistent than his opponent in the third set.
PHOTO SUSAN MULLANE, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Gael Monfils
“I felt like it was the worst game I’ve ever played in my career,” Alcaraz said. “I felt good in practice. I just want to put this game behind me and move on to New York.”
It was Monfils’ first victory in more than two years against a player ranked in the top three in the world.
Monfils, however, lost to Denmark’s Holger Rune 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the evening. The Frenchman started the duel well, but showed signs of fatigue in the last two sets.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner, Germany’s Alexander Zverev, Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, Russia’s Andrey Rublev and America’s Ben Shelton all advanced to the next round.
In the women’s competition, world number one Iga Świątek easily won 6-2, 6-2 against Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.
“The result didn’t matter to me,” Świątek said. “I just wanted to play as best I could. I focused on myself.”
Third seed Aryna Sabalenka also advanced to the next round with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.