Felix Books Place In Wimbledon Last 16
Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time after Nick Kyrgios was forced to retire after the second set of their match on No. 1 Court. The score was level at 2-6, 6-1.
Auger-Aliassime, who reached his eighth tour-level singles final at Stuttgart (l. to Cilic) and the semifinals at Halle (l. to Humbert) before arriving at SW19, has been one of the in-form players throughout the grass-court swing. He improves to 23-13 on the season.
“I’m sorry for Nick, he was playing so well in the first set,” Auger-Aliassime said in an on-court interview. “It’s really unfortunate, in front of a packed crowd. We both love playing here and there were some big expectations for this match. We were hoping to put on a good show and entertain the crowd, so it’s unfortunate that he had to retire. I hope it’s nothing too serious and that we’ll see him back during the US swing.”
The 20-year-old Canadian joined countryman Denis Shapovalov in the round of 16 here, marking the first time that multiple Canadian men have reached this stage at Wimbledon in the Open Era.
It was a bittersweet result for 16th seed Auger-Aliassime, who dropped the opening set to an on-song Kyrgios, currently No. 60 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Auger-Aliassime was broken three times in the first set as big-hitting Kyrgios mixed up the rhythm from the baseline.
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But one weapon that was missing from Kyrgios’ arsenal was his signature big serve as the Aussie seemed to struggle towards the end of the first set, requiring a medical time out. Kyrgios carried on in the second set, but won only 42 per cent (5/12) of points behind his first delivery. Auger-Aliassime pounced on the letdown, breaking twice and reeling off the last five games to take the second set.
Kyrgios was unable to continue, retiring from the match citing an abdominal injury and sending Auger-Aliassime into the fourth round for the first time.
“I haven’t played this level of tennis in a long time, and obviously playing someone as good as Felix I would want my main weapon, my serve, to be firing,” Kyrgios said in his own on-court interview. “I just felt my ab, I definitely did something to it at the end of the first set. But that’s the way it goes… He’s a hell of a player and he’s going to do great things in this sport.”
Auger-Aliassime will next face the winner of 31st seed Taylor Fritz and fourth seed Alexander Zverev in the fourth round.