Félix Auger-Aliassime saw the most prodigious winning streak of his career come to an end on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris.
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Undefeated for 16 games, since October 3, the Quebecer has finally found his match in Holger Rune, a 19-year-old Dane who is also having his best moments on the circuit.
Visibly tired by the weight of all these matches, Félix never managed to counter the power of his young rival, who deliberately hammered his backhand, losing 6-4 and 6-2 in 1 h 27 min.
“He played much better than me, conceded the eighth world in a press conference. I missed a few forehands and easy shots that I don’t normally miss and wouldn’t have missed in the last two weeks. »
The other strong man
Rune is the other strongman of the fall on the ATP and, clearly, he had in mind to avenge the defeat suffered at the hands of Auger-Aliassime in the final, in Basel, Switzerland, a week ago .
“I was more intense and hit the ball cleaner [samedi], he analyzed at the end of the match. I managed to take time off him. »
Ranked 103rd in the world at the start of the year, the fiery Dane will be 12th tomorrow, thanks to the four consecutive finals he has just reached.
Rune won a title in October, in Stockholm, Sweden. He was particularly spectacular in Paris, taking the scalp of three members of the top 10, including the Quebecer.
He will play his first final in a tournament of the prestigious Masters category on Sunday against the Serbian Novak Djokovic, also unstoppable these days.
Currently seventh in the world, the former master of the circuit beat Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, fifth, on Saturday, after a tough fight that ended 6-2, 6-3 and 7-6 (4).
And now Turin
Auger-Aliassime recognizes it: he will quickly chase away the disappointment of this defeat, even if he was convinced that he had the assets to win the biggest title of his career this week.
He will now head for Turin, where the ATP final will be played next Sunday, which brings together the eight best players of the last season.
“It would have been great to win here, but I always tried to use things in the best possible way and turn a defeat into something positive,” analyzed the 22-year-old.
” From [d’aujourd’hui]I will direct my attention and my energy towards my preparation for Turin,” he added.
Sixth in the world on Monday
Its place in Italy, the pride of L’Ancienne-Lorette has not stolen it. His winning streak is the second longest of the year. Only the Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Djokovic have done better than him this season.
After presenting the best tennis of his career, Félix will be sixth in the world on Monday, a level he had never reached before.
►World number one Carlos Alcaraz withdrew from the ATP Finals on Saturday due to an abdominal injury. He will be replaced by American Taylor Fritz.