In a duel largely dominated by service players, Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime reached the final of the Antwerp tennis tournament thanks to a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) victory over the French veteran Richard Gasquet on Saturday evening.
In the final on Sunday, Auger-Aliassime, 10th player in the world and second seed in the tournament, will cross swords with the American Sebastian Korda, ranked 36th in the world. The two 22-year-old tennis players will both participate in a second final in as many weekends.
Last week, in Florence, Auger-Aliassime had signed the second triumph of his career against the American JJ Wolf. Korda was less fortunate at the tournament in Gijón, Spain, when he lost in straight sets to Russian Andrey Rublev.
This will be the third meeting between Auger-Aliassime and Korda. On March 17, 2021, the Montrealer had won in two sets of 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 16 of the Acapulco tournament, on hard surface.
Korda avenged this failure by dominating Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-2 on April 29 in the quarter-finals of the Estoril tournament, in Portugal, played on clay.
The Antwerp tournament is played indoors, on a hard surface.
Only one chance of breakage
If Gasquet offered quality play on his service with a harvest of seven aces, only one double fault committed and only one break chance conceded, Auger-Aliassime was simply sensational. Especially during the two tiebreakers.
The Montrealer totaled 22 aces while committing only one double fault. He faced no break points and won his 10 services in both tiebreakers, five in each of two sets.
“So far, it’s been the toughest match of the week,” Auger-Aliassime said in an interview posted on the ATP website.
“If I hadn’t served like I did, it would have been really difficult to win. My serve helped me a lot to easily win my serve games and then give me opportunities. »
Incidentally, Auger-Aliassime did not fail to pay tribute to Gasquet.
“He was playing really well. He is still playing very well after so many years on the circuit. All the credit goes to him for continuing to push. He is a great leader in our sport and a great example. »
Auger-Aliassime completed the match with a 69 percent success rate on the first serve, compared to 66 percent for Gasquet. In addition, the Montrealer earned 85 percent of the points after placing his first ball in play, and 70 percent of the points after hitting his second ball.
The only break chance in the match came in the 11th game of the second set, but Gasquet managed to erase it.
In the first set tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime forged a 5-0 lead, posting mini-breaks on the second and third runs.
In the second-set break, Auger-Aliassime took the lead with a mini-break in the fourth point, before scoring a second in the ninth point to give himself a 6-3 lead and match point. at his service.
Fittingly, he converted her with an ace.
Earlier in the day, Korda came from behind to snatch a three-set victory of 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (4) over Austria’s Dominic Thiem.
Korda emerged victorious from a battle that lasted two hours and 47 minutes, aided by 11 aces and four breaks in five opportunities. Korda also won 73 percent of the points after slotting her first serve into play.
In the first set, Korda and Thiem, now 132nd in the ATP rankings, won their serve in the first 12 games without facing a single break point.
Thiem was the first to falter in the tiebreaker when he lost serve on the sixth point, giving Korda a 4-2 lead. Thiem rose to his feet with confidence as he earned the next five points, including two in a row on the American’s serve.
The pace of the second round was quite different. Both players were unable to win their serve in the first three games, after which Korda led 2-1. The latter completed the second set by scoring a third break in the ninth game, without Thiem scoring a single point.
Thiem and Korda traded breaks in games seven and eight of the deciding set to force another tiebreaker. Korda took the lead by scoring the first three points, including two in a row on Thiem’s service.
Korda will participate in a fourth career final and will be looking for a second victory on the ATP circuit, after the one recorded in May 2021 at the tournament in Parma, Italy.
For his part, Thiem earned his ticket to the semi-finals after knocking out tournament favorite Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 3-6, 7-6(9), 7-6(4) on Friday.