Wednesday, 12 February 2020

Felix Back In Business With Rotterdam Masterclass

Felix Auger-Aliassime delivered his best tennis to a packed crowd on Tuesday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis tournament, producing a reel of flashy winners during his 6-4, 6-2 victory over Grigor Dimitrov to reach the quarter-finals in Rotterdam.

“It was for sure the best match I’ve played so far this year. It was so complete from start to finish,” Auger-Aliassime said. “It was an almost perfect match. To dictate most of the points, serve well and return well, I’m very happy.”

Auger-Aliassime stood well inside the baseline to crack deep returns, immediately putting Dimitrov on defence in his service games. A big backhand return at 3-3 gave the #NextGenATP Canadian the first break of the set and he rode that slight lead to an early advantage.

The 19-year-old brought the crowd to their feet by taking the best point of the day in the opening game of the second set. Acrobatic volleys from both men eventually led to a drop volley winner from Auger-Aliassime that brought a smile to his face.

He continued to ride the momentum by lacing a backhand passing shot to break Dimitrov for a 2-1 lead in the second set. Auger-Aliassime then broke the Bulgarian to love at 4-2 and comfortably served out the match after 78 minutes. The Canadian improved to 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series.

Awaiting him in the next round is second-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or Slovenian Aljaz Bedene. Auger-Aliassime leads his ATP Head2Head series with Tsitsipas 2-1, but lost their most recent clash last October in Shanghai.

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