Tennis | Félix Auger-Aliassime’s almost perfect day

(Paris) Félix Auger-Aliassime has been playing without complexes since the start of the Olympic Games. For the first time since February 2022, he beat two members of the top 10On Thursday, it was Casper Ruud’s turn to be his victim.

The day before, he had freed himself from a burden by beating Daniil Medvedev for the first time in his career. But the Russian has never been known for his clay court game, even though he is ranked fifth in the world.

In the quarter-finals, however, the challenge was completely different against Casper Ruud, a clay court specialist, winner of 11 titles on the surface and ninth in the world.

Undaunted, Auger-Aliassime cruised to a three-set victory of 6-4, 6-7 (10-8), 6-3. Combative, he dominated his opponent during the decisive third set. Ruud, at the end of his tether, cracked by propelling the third match point he faced behind the Quebecer’s baseline. Pumping his right biceps to the sound of the catchy piece Bullet Proofhe turned back to his clan.

“I know that since the beginning of the clay court season, I’ve been playing better and better. There are some heartbreaking defeats here and there, but I still dare to believe that by doing the right things, the work will end up paying off. And what’s more, in moments like this, it’s even more fun,” he said in a very short press briefing.

Almost immediately after her 2 hour 47 minute battle, Auger-Aliassime was scheduled to play her mixed doubles match with Gabriela Dabrwoski. We will come back to that.

Keep control of the match

Under the roof of the Suzanne-Lenglen court, the 13^e The tournament’s top seed was masterful. FAA’s serve, as has been the case since the start of the Olympic week, wreaked havoc. He and his opponent, however, share similar serving statistics.

“That’s not the only thing I do well,” he said. “I move well, I return a lot of serves, so things are going well, but physically, everything works. I’m able to put pressure on for three hours.”

Tactically, Auger-Aliassime also had the upper hand on his opponent. Capable of competing in power, Ruud has however never deployed an arsenal like his. The Quebecer distinguished himself by the delicacy of his drop shots and the accuracy of his net attacks, succeeding 68% of them.

Things got heated, though, for the crowd favorite in the second set. First, he blew a 0-40 lead while Ruud was serving at 4-4. Then, he folded on match point at the 12th.^e decisive game point.

“I felt that despite everything, despite losing the second set, I was still playing better than him. I was the one leading in the second set. It’s my fault if he came back. And I knew I was in control. I didn’t want to show any signs of frustration, any signs of fatigue,” he explained at the end of the match.

In the third engagement, he wanted to “try to put the pressure on from the start.” He sensed a drop in form in his opponent and the door opened: “That was ideal!”

Mark history

Auger-Aliassime will therefore face Carlos Alcaraz on Friday at 7:30 a.m., Quebec time. This semi-final meeting will take place on the center court of Roland-Garros, where the Spanish prodigy won the last edition of the Grand Slam tournament in Paris in June.

“Alcaraz is always a very big challenge,” Auger-Aliassime acknowledged.

At stake: a place in the final and the certainty of offering Canadian tennis its first Olympic medal in singles. The gold medal won by Sébastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor at the Sydney Games in 2000 remains the only one that the Maple Leaf can boast.

However, Auger-Aliassime has lost his last three encounters with Alcaraz. The last time was at Roland Garros, in the round of 16, exactly two months ago.

“It was tough in Paris the last time we played against each other,” he recalls. “I have to be in shape, I have to recover well tonight and be in shape for this match. I have to put everything in place to win. I’m going to have to play an almost perfect match.”

Bronze in sight

The rest of the evening was a rollercoaster for Auger-Aliassime.

At 8:12 p.m., he hurriedly left the mixed zone to try to recover from his emotions and prepare for his second duel of the day.

At 8:57 p.m., he and Gabriela Dabrowski jumped onto the Simonne-Mathieu court to play their mixed doubles semi-final match against the Czechs Tomáš Macháč and Kateřina Siniaková.

Between his matches, the hero of the last hour only had time to take a shower and swallow an energy drink.

However, it was too much for the Quebecer. Visibly out of breath, Auger-Aliassime was unable to string together two wins in a row. The Canadians lost in two identical sets of 6-3.

Between points, Auger-Aliassime was struggling for breath, grimacing and showing signs of dissatisfaction, especially at the net.

Even though he played a total of 4 hours and 7 minutes on clay, that’s about the time he could spend on the court in a Grand Slam tournament match. But having to stop for almost three-quarters of an hour in the middle of that effort, “that’s worse,” he said on his second trip to the mixed zone.

“It’s still yesterday [mercredi] which was difficult, even though I managed to come back. There is always an uncertainty about how you are going to feel the day after a match like yesterday’s [contre Medvedev]. »

His partner did not speak to members of the media because she was ill. “It was difficult for both of us. Me for obvious reasons, because of the single, and her too. It was a bit of a bad script. Everything was set up for it to be difficult.”

The Canadian duo will battle for the bronze medal against the Dutch Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof, late in the morning, just after Auger-Aliassime’s singles semi-final.

“I’m not finished,” Auger-Aliassime swore, before setting down the second bottle he had in his hands.