Photo: @abnamrowtt
Another match, another win for Félix Auger-Aliassime. He now joins Rafael Nadal as the only player on the ATP Tour with 10 wins on the season.
Today’s quarter-final clash against sixth-seeded Cameron Norrie was a well-earned victory for Auger-Aliassime, as he needed two hours and six minutes to take down the tenacious Brit. With the 7-5, 7-6(4) win in the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament quarter-finals, the Canadian now leads his head-to-head with Norrie 4-0.
In addition, Auger-Aliassime improved his record against British opponents to 4-0 this season and is yet to drop a set in those matches.
In the opening set of today’s match, Auger-Aliassime hit four aces and won 89 per cent of first-serve points, setting the stage for what was going to be a strong service performance from the Canadian. Although Auger-Aliassime struggled to keep his first serves in play (60 per cent on the day), when they were in, he was virtually unbeatable.
Both players came out strong in the first set, and Auger-Aliassime and Norrie eventually exchanged breaks to level the set to 5-5. The Canadian then managed to hold to love in the 11th game and hit a spectacular volley in the 12th game to set up the first set point of the match. He managed to clinch the set on his second attempt.
Norrie made an early move in the second set, playing a tremendous third game to claim the first break advantage. It didn’t seem to bother Auger-Aliassime, as he was able to set up break point opportunities in his next three return games – breaking his opponent back in the eighth game.
At 6-5 in the second set, the Brit had to serve to stay in the match. Auger-Aliassime was able to push Norrie all the way to deuce, and even had two match point opportunities – but, Norrie turned them aside. In the tiebreak, Auger-Aliassime was the much better player and deservingly claimed the tiebreak by a score of 7-4.
Auger-Aliassime advances to the Rotterdam semi-finals for the second time in his career and will face the winner of the Marton Fucsovics and Andrey Rublev quarter-final match.
