Félix Auger-Aliassime will participate in the semi-finals of the Rotterdam tournament, where he will face the Russian Andrey Rublev on Saturday.
• Read also: Félix Auger-Aliassime wins against Andy Murray
The four of aces therefore brings together the first three seeds of the competition, the favorite Stefanos Tsitsipas, Rublev and Auger-Aliassime. Coming from the qualifications, the Czech Jiri Lehecka was also invited to dance as part of this tournament of the ATP 500 series.
Ranked ninth in the world, the Quebecer qualified for the semi-finals on Friday following a 7-5, 7-6 (4) victory over Briton Cameron Norrie, 13e world player. After struggling at the start of the second set, Auger-Aliassime upped his game in the tiebreaker to put an end to the course of Norrie, who had previously saved three match points.
“FAA” could also have been more expeditious at the start of the game, when he was serving for the first set. The Quebecer, however, had difficulty serving at 5-3, giving his opponent a chance to return to the duel. With his back to the wall, Norrie was unable to defend himself with the balls in his possession, at 6-5.
Despite the victory, Auger-Aliassime sometimes lacked opportunism in this match, converting only three break points in 13 chances.
About Rublev, ranked seventh in the world, reached the semi-finals after beating Hungary’s Martin Fucsovics in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Long battle ahead?
In Rublev, Auger-Aliassime finds an opponent against whom he has lost twice on as many occasions in the past. In their most recent meeting, in the semi-finals of the Adelaide tournament in 2020, Rublev had won very difficultly in three sets of 7-6 (5), 6-7 (7) and 6-4. The duel had lasted almost three hours.
Previously in Rotterdam, Auger-Aliassime showed the exit to Belarus representative Egor Gerasimov as well as ex-world number one Andy Murray.
