The drums and trumpets that played in his honor were not enough to carry Félix Auger-Aliassime, Sunday, to Marseille. The Quebecer lost in two sets of 7-5, 7-6 (4) against the Russian Andrey Rublev, in the final of this ATP 250 tournament.
Posted at 10:12 a.m.
Updated at 10:25 a.m.
Auger-Aliassime upped his game late in the second set, but it was too little too late. Rublev was there to push his opponent to the fault and do as little as possible.
The winner thus obtains his revenge against the Canadian, and wins the ninth title of his career. They met last week in the semi-finals in Rotterdam.
Félix Auger-Aliassime won the match, then this tournament in the Netherlands, against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final. It was his very first singles title on the ATP Tour, after eight unsuccessful attempts to start his professional career, which began in 2017.
The waltz of brokenness
Sunday’s match was tense from the first balls in play. Both players offered the same level of tennis. But it was also a bit disjointed: when a player was broken, he returned the favor to his opponent in the next game.
That was the story of the first set…until Auger-Aliassime ran out of answers for the ultimate Rublev break. He led 6-5, eventually winning the set 7-5.
The same scenario happened in the second run. Three games in a row in the middle of the engagement ended in a break, two of them to Rublev’s advantage. At 4-3, the Russian solidified his break to take a 5-3 lead.
PHOTO DANIEL COLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Andrey Rublev
That’s when Auger-Aliassime took his game up a notch. He won 10 straight trades. At 6-5 Rublev, the match had taken on real proportions.
It ultimately ended in a tiebreaker. After two unforced errors on forehands, Auger-Aliassime executed two forehand winners. He seemed to believe it.
Except that Rublev had no intention of escaping the opportunity to win a first title since Rotterdam, in 2021. He held on.
The match finally lasted 1 hour 56 minutes.
Félix Auger-Aliassime will be back on the court on Monday in Dubai. This will be the third tournament in three weeks for the Canadian.