Thanks to his powerful serve, Félix Auger-Aliassime was imperial at the National Bank Open yesterday afternoon. With a decisive win over Cameron Norrie, he became the first Quebecer in history to reach the quarterfinals of the Montreal Open-era tournament.
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The Quebecer won 6-3 and 6-4 against the Brit, who came ninth in the tournament. A performance that came close to perfection.
“It’s a good performance on my part in terms of the aspects of the game that I control,” said Félix Auger-Aliassime. I was almost perfect in service.
“It doesn’t happen every day. I’m taking advantage of that and I’m hoping to continue like this for the rest of the tournament.
This is possibly one of his best performances of his 2022 season. Everything was swimming in oil.
“I’ve also had good performances in Madrid, the Australian Open and the ATP Cup,” he said. It’s one of my very good performances, especially at this stage of a tournament against one of the top 10 players.
sweet revenge
Auger-Aliassime got revenge on Norrie, who defeated him in the semifinals of the Los Cabos tournament last week. This time the verdict was final.
“I did some very good things against him last week,” said the 22-year-old athlete. I had lost two hung sets.
“I tried to remember the good things that worked and repeat them. I had served well last week too.
“Today [jeudi], we served well while being aggressive. He moved me and me too. We tried to assert ourselves. After all, it was he who cracked the first set 4:3. A very good point from me. It played out in some detail during the first run.
Dominant in service
Auger-Aliassime won both rounds with a nearly identical scenario. He was able to snap a serve break at the right time every time. He finished the work with his service.
Speaking of service, the ninth player in the world has been masterful in that regard. He hit 85% of his first serves with a total of 15 aces. This enabled him to gain 92% of his points afterwards.
It’s phenomenal for a matchup against a top 15 player in the world. Also, he didn’t give his opponent a breakpoint. It feels like repeating yourself, but when Auger-Aliassime’s serve is at its peak, it’s very difficult to beat.
“On Wednesday I had a little trouble getting used to the central lights in the first set,” explained the ninth player in the world. My service performance against Norrie is a bit difficult to explain.
“I feel like I’m going to be one of the really good servers on the circuit. I proved it again today.”
► Because of the rain that Australian touch duel between Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur was moved to Rogers Court. The central crowd grumbled a bit when the news broke, but they were happy to see Félix Auger-Aliassime in action earlier.