The confident and dominant Félix Auger-Aliassime at the start of the season will not have been a shadow of himself under the sun of the southern United States. After Indian Wells, the Quebecer was once again shown the exit door in his first game of the Miami Masters on Saturday.
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As was the case in the Californian desert two weeks ago, the seventh favorite was abandoned by his best weapon in recent months, his first serve.
Short of plan B, Félix only lasted for 1h 33 min against Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, who defeated him 6-4 and 6-2 in this second round match. Auger-Aliassime was given a bye in the initial round by virtue of his seeded status.
One of the players in the form of the moment, recent quarter-finalist in the Californian desert, Kecmanovic quickly feasted on the slump in the service of his 21-year-old rival.
Five missed chances
Photo: AFP
Félix Auger-Aliassime performing a one-shot return from Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic at the Miami Masters on Saturday.
From the first game of the match, the 48and world attacked the second balls of Auger-Aliassime, who had to erase two chances of breakage.
However, it was only a postponement. The 22-year-old Serb recovered from 3-3, extracting the service from the pride of L’Ancienne-Lorette.
The Quebecer did have an opportunity to tie the game in the next game – he had no fewer than five chances to break – but each time, a more aggressive Kecmanovic came to close the door, to finally slip away with the set.
In his impressive start to the season, marked by the first title of his career, Auger-Aliassime was rarely lacking in solutions. In Melbourne then in Rotterdam, the ninth in the world turned the tide against players of the caliber of Croatian Marin Cilic or Andrey Rublev.
A feat of arms that the young player attributed to the maturity acquired over his four years on the ATP circuit.
But on Saturday, the Quebecer never managed to solve the enigma Kecmanovic, who quickly fled with the second set, twice breaking his opponent.
In the defeat, Félix won only 62% of the points disputed on his first serve and 42% on his second. The Rotterdam champion was also guilty of 29 unforced errors, almost double his 16 winning shots.
A second top 10
The victory is Kecmanovic’s second against a top 10 in two weeks. In Indian Wells, on his way to the last eight, he offered the Italian Matteo Berrettini, sixth in the world.
As for Félix, he will now return to Monte-Carlo, where he will compete from April 11 in the first Masters on clay of the season, in preparation for Roland-Garros.