Félix Auger-Aliassime missed out on a second-straight Cincinnati Open quarter-final after the Canadian lost 6-3, 6-4 to Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round on Wednesday night.
The American defeated Auger-Aliassime for the second time in as many meetings this season, beating the Montrealer in the Halle quarters.
Following a strong service performance in his win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Auger-Aliassime wasn’t quite able to reach those heights against Tiafoe. The 25-year-old was broken three times on five attempts, including in back-to-back service games in the second set. Some untimely unforced errors also led to those losses of serve as the Canuck ended the match with 37, compared to Tiafoe’s 16.
Auger-Aliassime was under a bit of pressure right from his opening service game, trailing love-30, but three consecutive aces and an unreturned serve helped secure the hold. However, the Canadian No. 1 was soon in another hole at 1-2, 15-40, and was broken on the first try.
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The closest Auger-Aliassime came to a response in the first set was when he forced deuce in the fifth game, but Tiafoe was aided by his second delivery, winning 75 per cent of his second-serve points as he eventually clinched the opener.
The Canuck found himself down by an even larger deficit to begin the second. From 1-1, Auger-Aliassime was broken in his next two service games, trailing 1-4. Fortunately for the world No. 4, he immediately broke back to close the gap to 2-4.
Tiafoe looked to cruise to the finish line as he held triple match point at 5-4, 40-love, but a string of unforced errors from the American No. 5 brought the game to deuce. Auger-Aliassime saved two more match points, but Tiafoe sealed the contest following deuce three.
The Canadian’s next stop will be the US Open where he was a semifinalist last year.
Read also: North American Swing Moves to Cincinnati
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Feature Photo: Tennis Canada
