Félix Auger-Aliassime extended his incredible winning streak of recent weeks to 15 games, Thursday at the Paris Masters, simultaneously sounding the death knell for the career of one of the most talented Frenchmen of his generation.
By beating Gilles Simon 6-1 and 6-3 in 1h 34min of play, the player of the hour reached the quarter-finals of a fourth tournament in a row, after Florence, in Italy, Antwerp, in Belgium, and Basel, Switzerland, three events he eventually won.
At 37, Simon had announced that this tournament would be the last of his career. And he had done it big so far in front of a crowd dedicated to the cause of his “Gillou”, beating the Briton Andy Murray, 48, in quick succession.e world, and the American Taylor Fritz, 11e.
This ultimate victory also allowed Félix to obtain his ticket for the ATP final, Fritz being one of the last players who could steal his ticket to Turin.
Abandoned by his body
But Thursday, the body of the veteran with 14 singles titles abandoned him. Especially his left thigh, visibly injured.
Auger-Aliassime took advantage of this. Eighth favorite in this last Masters event of the season, the pride of L’Ancienne-Lorette hammered his rival with his powerful serve, slamming 11 aces and winning 75% of the rallies disputed on his first serve.
“I did everything I could for a long time. My body has reached its limits,” Simon had already said at Roland-Garros in May.
Photo: AFP
Even if he won and reached the quarter-finals in Paris, Félix Auger-Aliassime gave way to Gilles Simon, who was playing his last professional tennis match.
Tiafoe’s turn
The former member of the world’s top 10 – he was sixth – had a boost of energy in the second set, offering himself two break points on the serve of the young athlete of 22 years.
But “FAA” has seen others, especially in the last month. He quickly erased them, sailing towards a quarter-final showdown against American Frances Tiafoe, 16e seed of the competition, which will take place around 9 a.m. Friday morning.
A player that the Quebecer has beaten twice on as many occasions, but who has had some of the best moments of his career since this summer.
“A fantastic player”
If it is generally the winner who addresses the crowd at the end of the match, this time the honor went to the new retiree.
And this one went there with a touching speech. His first words were also addressed to his rival of the day, “whom he adores”.
“He’s a fantastic player, said the Frenchman of atypical tennis, sometimes described as boring, inviting the Parisians to support him for the rest of the tournament. He is really awesome. Frankly, it’s the best of all. »
“At the time of the draw, you wonder who you’re going to play against, who it’s going to end up against and then you make a whole bunch of plans,” Simon continued.
“If it’s him, if it’s Andy [Murray], who has already beaten me 16 times. It could have been Taylor [Fritz], and then in the end, it was you, and I’m glad it was in front of you. I wish you all the best for the future. »
The tears were flowing
By the way, Simon also thanked life three times for this long journey, he who always wanted to “be a tennis player”.
But for some time, he added, every moment spent away from his children had become more and more unbearable.
“There was not a time when there weren’t tears flowing,” he admitted, addressing his sons Timothée and Valentin, born in 2010 and 2013 respectively.
The eternal wheel of professional sport therefore continued to turn on Thursday. As one career ended, another took off a little more.
– With Jessica Lapinski, Le Journal de Québec, and AFP