Félix Auger-Aliassime lost 6-3, 7-5 in front of the German Dominik Köpfer, 58e world racket, in the second round of the Paris Masters, Wednesday. A defeat that will prevent him from taking part in the ATP Finals. Auger-Aliassime demonstrated his power by slamming a total of 10 aces, against only 3 for his opponent, except that he was rough in other aspects of his game. The 21-year-old Quebecer notably committed eight double faults , while Köpfer limited his to two.
The ninth seed in the tournament was also unable to generate breakage chances during the game. He has delighted his opponent’s serve only once on three occasions, while Köpfer, who will face the winner of the duel between Pole Hubert Hurkacz and American Tommy Paul in the next round, converted four of his eight breakage bullets.
These unusual statistics could be explained by the fact that the Quebecer had to receive treatment to his right arm in the second set. Now you need to know the severity of the injury.
Two places to win
Auger-Aliassime must therefore put a cross on the ATP Finals. The 11the World player hoped to cap off an outstanding season by advancing to the season-ending tournament, having reached the four-a-side at the US Open and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. He also took part in the final of the Murray River Open in Melbourne and the Stuttgart Open in Germany.
Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev and Matteo Berrettini have all qualified for the ATP Finals. There are therefore two places left for the tournament bringing together the eight best players in the world. Auger-Aliassime, Casper Ruud, Jannik Sinner, Hurkacz and Cameron Norrie all struggle to join them. From the group, the Quebecer was already ahead in the world rankings by Ruud (8), Sinner (9) and Hurkacz (10). His loss to Köpfer means that he cannot be among the top eight in the world rankings.