Both Canadians remaining in the singles draws at Roland-Garros found themselves in need of a comeback against an American opponent on Saturday, but only Félix Auger-Aliassime was able to finish the job.
For the third match in a row, Auger-Aliassime turned it around after dropping the first set to advance in Paris, beating 31st seed Brandson Nakashima in four sets to reach the fourth round. It is his third time reaching the last sixteen at Roland-Garros, but he has yet to get to the quarter-finals at the clay major in his career.
Victoria Mboko’s comeback would have been even more thrilling, saving match points and rallying from a break down multiple times, but she ultimately came up just short against Madison Keys in a three-set thriller.
The door is open for Auger-Aliassime in Paris, as the historic upset of Jannik Sinner on Thursday has left the Canadian as the highest-ranked player in the top half of the men’s draw. He put his opportunity at risk on Saturday with another slow start against Nakashima, but the fourth seed picked up his game and proved the more solid of the pair, earning a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(4), 7-6(1) victory.
Auger-Aliassime did his best to dictate play, firing 56 winners to his opponent’s 26, although he did have more errors, 44 to 38. He also had 15 aces. In the end, playing the big points made the difference. The Canadian converted four of his six break point chances while saving five of eight on his own delivery. He also won 14 of 19 points in the two tiebreaks.
The first set was bookended by difficult service games for Auger-Aliassime, while Nakashima cruised throughout. In the very first game of the match, the Canadian fell behind 30-40 but managed to find a big forehand to avoid an immediate break.
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Nine games would pass before either man saw a break point again, when at 5-5, the forehand deserted Auger-Aliassime. One miss gave Nakashima a break point which the Canadian saved, but the No. 4 seed proceeded to miss back-to-back forehands from deuce to give away the late break, which ultimately cost him the set.
Rather than letting the late meltdown get to him, Auger-Aliassime turned a new leaf early in the second set. In Nakashima’s opening serve game, the Canadian ripped a spectacular forehand winner down the line on his first break-point chance of the match to quickly go up 2-0. The No. 4 seed kept his foot on the gas, adding a second break as he raced out to a 5-0 lead.
Only when serving for the set did Auger-Aliassime encounter much resistance. Twice he found himself facing break points in the seventh game but on both occasions, he conjured up big serves and was able to hold to level the match.
That late push gave Nakashima a spark that he carried into the third set. At 2-1, the American ripped a flying forehand winner crosscourt to create a double break-point chance, where Auger-Aliassime netted his own forehand to give away the break. However, Nakashima’s level dropped soon after and in the seventh game, he dumped consecutive backhands into the net to give the No. 4 seed the break back.
Like the opening set, Auger-Aliassime had some trouble on his serve late. Serving to stay in it at 4-5, a deep return from Nakashima drew an error to bring up set point, but the Canadian erased it with a forehand winner. He went on to hold and then raced out to a quick 3-0 lead in the tiebreak courtesy of a nervy backhand error from the American for a minibreak on the opening point. Auger-Aliassime never relinquished that lead in the breaker, converting his second set point with a huge serve out wide.
Set four followed a similar script to number three, with Nakashima breaking early only for Auger-Aliassime to reel him back in. This time, after being broken in the third game, the Montrealer responded immediately, ripping a forehand passing shot up the line to go up love-40 and then breaking when his opponent framed a forehand.
Also like the previous set, the tiebreak ended up being rather undramatic. Despite there barely being anything to separate the pair through the final eight games of the set, Auger-Aliassime dominated the breaker. A brilliant drop shot winner earned the first minibreak for 2-0 and he cruised from there, going up 6-0 and converting his second match point with an ace down the middle.
Roland-Garros is the only major where Auger-Aliassime has yet to reach the quarter-finals in his career. He can become the first Canadian singles player to reach at least the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slam events by defeating Alejandro Tabilo on Monday. Auger-Aliassime won their lone previous meeting last year on hard courts in Shanghai.
Mboko’s Comeback Bid Denied by Keys
Victoria Mboko’s run at Roland-Garros came to an end in round three for the second year in a row on Saturday. Despite fighting back from large deficits in the second and third sets, the 19-year-old was ousted by former Australian Open champion Madison Keys in three sets.
In a battle of two big hitters, the No. 9-seeded Mboko found herself on the defensive for most of the match. She dug deep in the second set to save match points and force a decider, but Keys’ veteran experience won out in the end, hanging on for a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 win.
Keys’ mighty forehand proved too much for the Canadian on Saturday, as she struck 36 winners and coaxed 43 unforced errors off Mboko’s racquet. Both women had 13 break point chances in the match, with the American converting six while the teen only managed four.
The first three games of the match were breaks, two for Keys and one for Mboko, and the Canadian had a pair of break points to make it four in a row, but her opponent found a couple of big forehands to secure the first hold of the day for a 3-1 lead.
Keys’ forehand largely controlled the opening set. The American used it to keep Mboko on the defensive and prevent the Canadian from using her own big shots to attack. That forehand set her up for a third straight break in the fifth game but Mboko found a big serve to get her first hold of the day. She then had a chance to draw level at three in the following game but this time it was the serve bailing Keys out.
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In the ninth game, more huge forehands from the former Australian Open champion gave her three break points to wrap up the set and Mboko double-faulted to gift Keys the opener.
Mboko’s hopes of mounting a second straight comeback from a set down took a hit early when she found herself once again facing break points in her first service game. She netted a forehand on the second to fall behind an early break again. The Canadian had three chances to immediately recover the break in the following game, but Keys used her big hitting to escape and hold for a 3-0 lead.
A critical hold for Mboko in the fourth game, saving a couple of break points to avoid going down 0-4, put some wind in the Canadian’s sails. For the first time all day, she was starting to dictate the rallies while Keys was missing a few more balls than earlier in the match. A backhand winner for the teen gave her a chance to break back in the seventh game and Keys missed a forehand to put the set back on serve. After holding for 4-all, Mboko got a love-30 opening only for Keys to dig in to stop the Canadian’s run.
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For a moment, the comeback looked to have be all for not when a Keys return took an awkward bounce for a winner to give the American a 15-40 double match point look at 4-5, but back-to-back Keys errors allowed Mboko to stay alive. The missed match points seemed to accelerate the downturn in the American’s play as she played a sloppy 11th game, falling behind 15-40 and then double-faulting to set up the teen to serve out the set.
Having avoided another break in her opening service game to start the third set, Mboko had a chance to strike first in the decider when she held a couple of break points in the fifth game. However, she failed to convert and the misses immediately came back to bite her in the following game when she missed consecutive backhands from deuce to gift a 4-2 lead to Keys.
A hold from the American made it 5-2 but Mboko was still refusing to go away. When Keys served for it at 5-3, the Canadian made a push, giving herself a double break point opening. Mboko crushed the ensuing return to get back on serve.
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Having fought all the way back, the teen cracked as she served to send the match to a tiebreak. A double fault put her in a love-40 hole, giving Keys three more match points, and the former Australian Open champion was not about to let another chance slip away. On the first match point, she crushed a forehand that was too much for Mboko to handle to finally put the Canadian away.
With Mboko’s defeat, no Canadian women remain in the singles draw of Roland-Garros. Gabriela Dabrowski is still alive in both women’s and mixed doubles. Félix Auger-Aliassime is also in round-three singles action on Saturday.
Feature Photo : Martin Sidorjak
