Félix Auger-Aliassime is back in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
The third-seeded Canadian has matched his career-best performance at the All-England Club thanks to a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday.
The match took 4:25, and momentum swung back and forth several times with both players failing to capitalize on opportunities to fully seize control. Auger-Aliassime could not convert two break and match points up 5-3 in the fourth set, then, after his opponent needed a medical timeout, was broken for the first time in the tournament to allow Davidovich Fokina back from the brink of elimination.
After cruising through the first three rounds without dropping a set, Auger-Aliassime was able to stay composed and refocus after a pair of dropped sets to close the match in five and move on to the quarter-finals for the second time in his career.
“I’ve played a few roller-coaster matches in my career, but this one is at the top of the charts,” said Auger-Aliassime after the match. “It was a very hard-fought match. A lot of work, a lot of miles on the legs, but I feel ready for what’s next.”
The Montreal native will now move on to the final eight to face seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic. The two have not faced off since the Laver Cup in 2022 and have split the two head-to-head matches in their careers.
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The back-and-forth first set saw break opportunities for both players, but neither blinked, as the set stayed on serve into the tiebreak.
Davidovich Fokina finally earned the first real advantage of the set, taking a mini-break against Auger-Aliassime to go up 5-3 in the tiebreak, with a chance to serve out the first. The Spaniard would make no mistake and take the first 7-6 (4), Auger-Aliassime’s first dropped set of the tournament.
The second set looked much like the first, as neither man was willing to concede on serve. The stalemate would continue throughout, with Auger-Aliassime successfully serving to stay in the set down 5-4 and 6-5, despite facing three break points, to force another tiebreak.
Both men were shaky on serve in the tiebreak, as each earned three mini-breaks throughout. A costly unforced error from Davidovich Fokina was the turning point in the tiebreak, as he was visibly frustrated after sending a forehand into the net, allowing Auger-Aliassime to serve out the set to even the match after two.
Auger-Aliassime finally took the match off schedule midway through the third set. After saving another pair of break points to hold and go up 4-3, he seized momentum with the first break of the match on Davidovich Fokina’s next serve to go up 5-3 with a chance to serve out the set. The Canadian would finish off the set in style, smashing his 14th and 15th aces of the match to close out the third and go up two sets to one.
Davidovich Fokina would give up momentum again early in the crucial fourth set, giving up another break to Auger-Aliassime to fall behind 2-1. The 22nd seed got the crowd on its feet after winning a spectacular rally on his next service game, but Auger-Aliassime quickly squashed a potential rally with a quick hold at love to move within two games of the quarter-final.
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The Spaniard played through an ankle injury late in the match after he required a medical timeout down 4-5 in the fourth. However, the injury seemed to give him momentum as he broke Auger-Aliassime for the first time in the tournament and fought off a pair of match points to steal the fourth and force a fifth-and-deciding set.
It was all Auger-Aliassime in the fifth as Davidovich Fokina could not build off the momentum from his fourth-set comeback. The precision and movement he had shown throughout the match were not there in the fifth, as he committed nine unforced errors and won just 43 per cent of his first-serve points en route to the 6-1 loss.
Auger-Aliassime relied on his serve to get him out of trouble, smashing 27 aces in the thrilling victory.
Auger-Aliassime is now 4-1 against Davidovich Fokina on the ATP Tour and 2-1 against him at Grand Slams after the two split two meetings at the Australian Open.
The Canadian cruised to this point in the tournament, having won three straight-set matches against Alexander Shevchenko, Dino Prizmic, and Michael Zheng.
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Feature Photo: Martin Sidorjak
