by Stephanie Myles in Tennis
Félix Auger-Aliassime made the third round of the Canadian Open in 2019, in his only previous appearance at the center where he learned his trade.
He defeated the previous Canadian generation in Vasek Pospisil and then Milos Raonic, before losing to Karen Khachanov.
This year, now established in the top 10, he’s gone one step further and is into the quarterfinals.
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It’s not just that Auger-Aliassime, who turned 22 on Monday at home (he shares a birthday with Roger Federer) has won two matches at his home event and is into the quarterfinals.
It’s whom he beat.
In his opener, the Canadian took care of the crafty, talented Japanese lefty Yoshihito Nishioka, who first beat him in his first Challenger main draw at age 14 in nearby Granby, Quebec, and has broken his tennis heart a few times since then.
And then, to back that up on Thursday, Auger-Aliassime defeated No. 9 seed Cameron Norrie.
Less than a week ago, Norrie defeated Auger-Aliassime in three sets in the semifinal of a tuneup ATP 250 tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico.
This time, it was 6-3, 6-4 and the Canadian barely broke a sweat. He was in the zone.
Casper Ruud VSFélix Auger-Aliassime 23 (Dec. 22, 1998) Age 22 (Aug. 8, 2000) Oslo, Norway Birthplace Montreal, Canada 6-0 Height 6-4 9 Career ATP Singles Titles 1 No. 5 (June 13, 2022) Career-Best Ranking No. 9 (Jan. 10, 2022) No. 7 Current Ranking No. 9 $7,808,265 Career Prize Money $7,485,957 37-13 2022 Won/Loss Record 34-18 2 Head-to-Head Wins 2
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In an earlier match Thursday, Ruud needed more than three hours to eliminate No. 14 seed Roberto Bautista Agut.
The score was 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 and the match reflected it. There also was a 69-minute rain delay in the latter part of it.
Bautista had beaten Ruud both previous times they met, both times in straight sets. And one of those wins came on Ruud’s favored clay.
It was an incredibly even battle, with the difference perhaps one more break point saved by Ruud, compared to Bautista Agut.
On the penultimate point of the match, Ruud served an ace at 219 km/hour, out wide. That speed is up there with the biggest servers on the planet, A club of which Ruud is not a member. The adrenaline was pumping at that point.
He’ll face a completely different opponent on Friday, for the match that is scheduled to begin not before 2 p.m.
Auger-Aliassime needed just an hour, 12 minutes to beat Norrie. And along the way he fired 15 aces in 10 service games, with just one double fault. That will nearly always be a winning ratio for him.
Norrie didn’t have a single ace.
Against Bautista-Agut, Ruud was dealing with a rock-solid backhand. Against the Canadian, he’ll look to target that side as it’s not Auger-Aliassime’s shotmaking wing; it’s used to set up big forehands – mostly inside-out forehands.
But if Auger-Aliassime is serving anything close to the way he did against Norrie, Ruud will not have a lot of opportunities to break. So he’ll have to be opportunistic when he does get them.
For the Canadian, the key will be consistency. He will not win many battles with Ruud on the baseline. Not even on a hard court.
Still, if he doesn’t love it yet, Ruud remains very consistent, regardless of surface. He did win a title on hard court in San Diego last fall, before Indian Wells. And he went all the way to the final at the Miami Open this year. He can play on it. And he’s getting better every year.
Stephanie gets the straight dope from the tennis insiders. On court, she has represented her country internationally. A BA in journalism led to years on the MLB beat and a decade covering tennis globally. She's written for Postmedia, the Guardian, the New York Times and also publishes OpenCourt.ca.
Stephanie gets the straight dope from the tennis insiders. On court, she has represented her country internationally. A BA in journalism led to years on the MLB beat and a decade covering tennis globally. She's written for Postmedia, the Guardian, the New York Times and also publishes OpenCourt.ca.
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