Félix Auger-Aliassime took just 49 minutes to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1, 6-0 in the second round of the Basel tennis tournament on Thursday.
After allowing the Serb to tie the score 1-1 in the first set, the ninth player in the world – and third seed in the tournament – won 46 of the next 62 points, including the last nine of the clash, and made five consecutive service breaks. Two of those 16 points from Miomir Kecmanovic, 28e in the ATP rankings, were the result of double faults by the Montrealer.
“It’s difficult to play better than that, on my side,” admitted Félix Auger-Aliassime during his interview on the court after his victory. “It’s definitely the best game I’ve played in my entire life — not my career, since I was a little boy! It’s a great feeling to play at this level, to play in this way in front of you,” he added, addressing the Swiss public.
On the way to this 10e winning streak, the 22-year-old Montrealer had 10 aces, faced no break points and earned 22 of a possible 24 points after slotting his first serve in play.
Félix Auger-Aliassime also scored 21 winners against only two for Miomir Kecmanovic and committed only six unforced errors, one less than the Serb.
In the quarter-finals on Friday, the Montrealer will face Alexander Bublik, 38e world player, who defeated Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday.
It will be their third encounter — and the first since the Kazakh beat Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-2 in Hamburg, on clay, in 2020. The previous year, at a Masters 1000 tournament in China , Alexander Bublik retired when the Montrealer was leading 7-6 (5), 4-0.
If Félix Auger-Aliassime defeats the Kazakh, he could find world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals on Saturday. The latter will face his compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta on Friday in the quarter-finals.
In another Round of 16 match on Thursday, Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Britain’s Andy Murray 6-3, 6-2.