Australian Open | Auger-Aliassime shines, but escapes his match against Medvedev

The columns of the temple shook on this quiet Wednesday morning in late January. During the day, there will only be one man: Félix Auger-Aliassime. The Quebecer almost surprised the tennis world, but it was ultimately his opponent Daniil Medvedev, the favorite of these Australian Open, who had the best in their quarter-final match in five sets of 6-7, 3 -6, 7-6, 7-5 and 6-4.

Félix Auger-Aliassime came close to knocking down the second-ranked player in the world, but the Quebecer finally lost his fourth confrontation in as many games against the Russian. This is the second consecutive time that Medvedev has blocked Felix’s path in a grand slam. Last September, he also had the best in their duel in the semifinals of the United States Open.

Auger-Aliassime still delivered an admirable performance and he even seemed to be, at one point, on his way to victory after winning the first two races. However, Medvedev’s experience prevailed. Auger-Aliassime however has nothing to reproach himself for, he who has just delivered probably the best performance of his career.

Flawless all the way

The task was going to be difficult. Medvedev has been a top two player for 18 months and his consistency has made him a recurring threat. It is safe to say that he will take Novak Djokovic’s place at the top of the world rankings before long.

The 25-year-old quickly let Auger-Aliassime know that he didn’t intend to laugh at the start of the match. In his first service game, Medvedev started with two aces and completed the game without giving Felix a margin. 40-0.

However, Félix did not appear on the Rod Laver court to play extras. In turn, he served two aces to his opponent from the start. Contrary to what many had anticipated, the match was set to be fiercely contested.

Quickly, the crowd also joined in, chanting non-stop, between the dots, “Go Félix go! “. The referee even had to intervene several times to calm the heat.

The two players fought a great battle and offered an extraordinarily high quality of play. If the start of the first set was quite expeditious due to the brilliance of the two players on serve, the exchanges began to lengthen in the middle of the set. Nevertheless, Félix had the upper hand over his opponent in several aspects of the game, notably on first-serve efficiency. Which is quite surprising knowing that the Russian is one of the best in this phase of the game. While Medvedev led 5-4, Auger-Aliassime released his best tennis. On serve, he won the game by shutout, making it 5-5. Then, during the next game, he offered himself the first break of the match, on his second attempt, but he took advantage of a risky decision by his opponent, when going up to the net, he let it pass. the ball which ultimately fell directly on the baseline. Félix finally got the break on a double fault from Medvedev. A difficult sequence for the Russian, but which was profitable for the Quebecer who won the set 7-6.

From that moment, everyone knew it could be, as Serge Vleminckx often recited.

The second round quickly became Félix Auger-Aliassime’s business. After winning the first game, he smashed Medvedev in the second. The tournament’s first seed looked shaken and unrecognizable during the round, making questionable calls and delivering erratic shots. Auger-Aliassime did not ask for so much. He was consistent and gave his opponent nothing. In just 40 short minutes, Félix doubled his lead and won the set 6-3.

We knew that Medvedev was not going to give up. He is not the second player in the world for nothing. The third chapter was again very tight and was played out on details. In particular on the poor quality and the low rate of effectiveness of the second services of the Russian. Auger-Aliassime’s forehands were devastating throughout the game. So, when the Russian’s second serves arrived, without effect, Félix returned rocketing balls which allowed him to hold on until the tiebreaker. Medvedev’s experience and composure served him well during the break, which was temporarily interrupted due to rain. The roof of the center court was therefore closed and Medvedev finally won his first set by the score of 7-6.

Félix, however, proved to be extremely solid. If he had crumbled in this kind of situation before, he stayed put and continued to stick to his game plan and do what worked. That is to say, to be superior in the baseline, to be powerful in return, to be effective in the first ball, to move his feet well and to maintain the rhythm in backhand, where he was very competitive , even superior to Medvedev, who probably has the best backhand on the circuit. The youngster seemed to have learned a lot from his past defeats, because keeping pace against a player of this caliber, in the quarter-finals of a grand slam tournament and in sweltering heat is not necessarily easy.

Like the first three sets, the two players fought quite a battle in the fourth set, not giving each other an inch and giving their opponent no wiggle room. The two young players offered high quality tennis. At 4-4, the Quebecer even survived a break point thanks to an ace, after sending three of his shots out of bounds. At 5-4, Felix even had match point, but Medvedev came back with a huge serve. It was finally Félix who broke first, in the eleventh game of the set, by offering the break to Medvedev, his first of the meeting. At the next point, Auger-Aliassime saved three set points, but the Russian overcame it and won the next game to take the set 7-5.

Félix started the final set in a lion position, with a perfect service game. However, in the next game, he was unable to take advantage of two break points. Due to costly errors, he offered his opponent two break points in the third game and Medvedev did not ask for that much. It was he who got the first break of the set, on a double fault from the Quebecer. He had however been irreproachable in this facet of the game. Between the fifth and the sixth game, the 21-year-old athlete asked for help from the trainers, for trouble in his right ankle. He seemed annoyed from the start of the round. Auger-Aliassime was still able to regain the upper hand and find the rhythm, but he was unable to convert his break points in the eighth game. Although he fought like a warrior until n the end and he was drawn to his last entrenchments, the momentum had well and truly passed on Medvedev’s side.

After 4:42 on the court, Daniil Medvedev got the better of the Quebecer 6-4.

The two players fought a memorable and inspiring battle, in every way.

Medvedev has an appointment with Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals. Matteo Berrittini will face Rafael Nadal in the other men’s semi-final.