Félix Auger-Aliassime’s six-game winning streak came to an end in a strange second-round match Wednesday at the Australian Open, punctuated by a rare court move mid-set due to noisy spectators on an adjacent court. and visits from the supervisor of officials.
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“I’ve never seen that in tennis. Right in the middle of the point, it screams like it’s on our court, it’s impossible [de jouer]“, Félix explained to the media, comments reported by the RMC Sport agency.
But whatever the circumstances, the 24-year-old Quebecer will only have himself to blame for leaving the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 66e in the world, come from behind in this match which he led two sets to zero.
A Davidovich Fokina who had never made up such a deficit since the start of his career and who, at one point, it’s true, began to walk on water and multiply winning shots.
«FAA», 29e seeded in Melbourne, failed to adjust, ultimately losing 6-7 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 and 6-3, in a match that lasted almost five hours.
Félix nevertheless had his chances in the final set, he who took advantage of four break points, which he did not manage to convert.
Rather, it was the Spaniard who jumped on his first opportunity, giving himself a 5-3 lead, then victory in the next game. Davidovich Fokina will now face the Czech Jakub Mensik (48e in the world), who fell to the sixth favorite, the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
A funny match, as they said…
We said it straight away: this match was strange. Started on court 8, it was moved to court 7 at 4-3 in the first set because the fans gathered on a nearby court for the meeting between the French Arthur Cazaux and the British Jacob Fearnley were too noisy for the taste of ” FAA” and Davidovich Fokina. This is where the supervisor of officials came to make his first visit to the court.
“They encourage between points, they follow their match, it’s ok,” said Auger-Aliassime. But I told them: “don’t put a match right next to it, it’s more than disturbing, it’s not possible to play. […] Come and see what it is, and then tell me if you think it’s suitable for playing tennis.”
There followed a delay of around twenty minutes, the time for the players to pack their rackets and go to their new court.
“It was terrible, as much for him as for me. Even the supervisor agreed with me, added Félix. Everyone agreed that it was not possible to continue.”
Photo AFP
Both players already had little rhythm. They exchanged three breaks of serve, a rather abnormal statistic for a player like Félix, for whom it is his greatest weapon. The Quebecer was also broken nine times during the match.
He still came through in the tiebreaker, before repeating the performance (without as many breaks, this time) in the second.
Bad memories
It was at this moment that Davidovich Fokina, 25 years old and ex-21e world, transformed into a demigod. Aggressive from the back of the field, the Spaniard began bombarding Auger-Aliassime with winning shots, his powerful strikes all remaining inside the lines.
Photo AFP
For a round and a half, in the third and fourth, Félix was unable to find solutions, in a bad mood of the last two seasons. The gap in the score, initially abysmal, gradually closed on the Quebecer.
-With the collaboration of Mylène Richard
