Felix Auger-Aliassime could hardly have dreamed up a better atmosphere for his 19^th birthday. The teenager was playing on Court Central at his hometown ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the Coupe Rogers in Montreal, with fans shouting, “Let’s go, Fe-lix!”

“I never heard a stadium yell like this, sound like this, an atmosphere like this. It was incredible. At the changeover at 6-all, I could see the people there. I was raising my fist, and I felt energy coming up my legs. It was the first time I ever felt that. It was incredible,” he said.

The #NextGenATP Canadian led by a set and a break against World No. 8 Karen Khachanov and had the finish line within sight, which was the problem. The 19-year-old peered ahead just a little bit and never recovered as Khachanov came back to advance 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-3 and make the quarter-finals.

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“When there’s a lot on the line, when you see the finish line, the nerves get to you. That’s part of my journey,” said Auger-Aliassime, who was trying to reach his second Masters 1000 quarter-final (Miami 2019). “It just means that I still have things to improve to win these types of matches and to deal better with these types of moments.”

Both players struggled with the wind and their nerves, but it was the 23-year-old Khachanov who found a way to settle down. Auger-Aliassime particularly struggled with his serve, hitting 12 double faults to 10 aces.

“For sure I’m facing difficulties on my second serve. I have to face it. It’s like you. You face difficulties in your work. I face difficulties in mine. What do you do? You go back to work, and you try to do better next time,” Auger-Aliassime said.

The teenager had never before faced an environment or a tournament like the Coupe Rogers in Montreal. He played in the Canadian Masters 1000 event in 2016 in Toronto, losing in the first round of qualifying, and last year in Toronto, falling in the second round.

“It’s good that I broke the ice, so to speak. But now it’s over. I can say the pressure was enormous. I can’t hide that. Everybody talks about it. It’s a big tournament for me. At the end I want to play well, I don’t want to be disappointed. There’s a lot of pressure,” Auger-Aliassime said.

“But I learned a lot this week. I learned how to know myself better. I think it’s good for the rest of the season and for the following years. I had a good week here.

“It went beyond any expectations I had. What I received was incredible. I’m young but I never felt that before. I really want to thank everybody. It was very touching. It was incredible. I’ll remember that for all my life.”

For a guy who doesn’t like to play in the wind, Rafael Nadal sure made a good impersonation of someone who prefers a gust here and there during his record-breaking performance on Thursday.

The World No. 2 steamrolled ahead in Montreal, beating Guido Pella 6-3, 6-4 to win his 379th ATP Masters 1000 match, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the all-time lead.

Nadal, the all-time ATP Masters 1000 titles leader (34), was on top of the Argentine from the start, breaking in the second game and nailing 1-2 punches Pella couldn’t handle.

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When the rallies did extend, Nadal had those mostly under control as well, delivering a crowd-pleasing skyhook overhead midway through a rally in the opening set. The Spaniard faltered in the sixth game of the second set, suffering his lone break of serve, but broke back immediately to regain the advantage.

The top seed improved to 36-8 at the Canadian Masters 1000 event and will next meet Italy’s Fabio Fognini, who beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 7-5. Nadal leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Fognini 11-4, although Fognini beat him in straight sets earlier this year at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

The Spaniard is playing in only his second tournament since winning his 12^th Roland Garros title in June, but he’s yet to drop a set this week through two matches, beating Brit Daniel Evans in his opener. Nadal commented on playing in windy conditions while defending his Paris title two months ago.

“When it’s too windy in academy, I go to the indoors… Of course being from an island, we have wind, yes. But if you ask me if I prefer to play with wind or without, I prefer to play without,” Nadal said. “Another thing is normally I adapt myself well to windy conditions.”

He has been adapting to any conditions and any tournament of late, reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals last month (l. to Federer). Nadal is trying to defend a hard-court title for the first time in his career and become the first player this season to win two Masters 1000 titles (Rome).

Bob Bryan added another milestone moment to his legendary career on Thursday at the Coupe Rogers. Teaming with Mike Bryan, he joined his brother as the only players to win 1100 tour-level doubles matches by reaching the quarter-finals in Montreal over Austin Krajicek and Michael Venus 7-5, 7-6(6).

Bob is second on the all-time doubles match win list and one of only six players to pick up 750 tour-level doubles victories. Since turning pro in 1998, he’s won 118 ATP Tour doubles titles with Mike, including 16 Grand Slam men’s doubles titles and seven mixed doubles titles.

DOUBLES MATCH WINS LEADERS (Since 1973)

The sixth-seeded Bryan brothers won 81 per cent of their first-serve points against Krajicek/Venus en route to prevailing in one hour and 33 minutes. Next up for the five-time champions in Canada are Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof.

Benoit Paire and Stan Wawrinka rallied from 2/5 in the Match Tie-break to take out Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. Awaiting them in the last eight are Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov, who defeated Kyle Edmund and Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury needed eight match points to complete their 6-3, 7-6(6) upset over fifth-seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. Ram/Salisbury will now face Roland Garros finalists Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin for a place in the semi-finals.

The lone quarter-final of the day saw Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos defeat Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-4. Granollers/Zeballos await the winner between Ram/Salisbury and Chardy/Martin.

Two weeks ago, Nikoloz Basilashvili saved two match points to oust Alexander Zverev in a third-set tie-break on the clay courts of Hamburg. On Friday, the third-seeded German turned the tables on the hard courts of Montreal, surviving 14 double faults and Basilashvili’s aggressive baseline play to prevail 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(5) at the Coupe Rogers.

Zverev fell to the ground in jubilation after picking up the win in two hours and 45 minutes, signifying how much the moment meant in what has been a challenging year for the 2017 champion (d. Federer). He arrived on Court Banque Nationale with a 29-15 record in 2019 and a title in Geneva (d. Jarry), but only one Top 20 win to his name this season, compared to eight at this time last year.

The magnitude of the occasion was not lost on Zverev and perhaps contributed to uncharacteristic difficulties on serve. The German hit three double faults when attempting to serve out the opening set at 5-4 and eight more throughout the second set. But while Zverev’s serve didn’t do him any favours, he was rock solid from the baseline. He saved 13 of 18 break points and came out on top in most of the grueling baseline rallies.

Zverev overcame a wild double fault early in the third-set tie-break to take a 4/2 lead, but gave away the mini-break advantage with a second serve that nearly clipped the baseline. At 5/4, Basilashvili missed just wide on a forehand to even the score. Two points later, a forehand sent long by the Georgian wrapped up their epic encounter and gave Zverev a 2-1 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.

Awaiting Zverev in the quarter-finals is sixth-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov, who crashed #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime’s 19th birthday party with a three-set win earlier in the day. Khachanov joins Daniil Medvedev in the last eight, marking the first time that two Russians have reached the quarter-finals in Canada since 2000 (Kafelnikov and Safin).

Zverev leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-1, but Khachanov won their most recent clash last year at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Karen Khachanov played the spoiler on Thursday, beating home favourite and birthday boy Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-3 to make his fourth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal.

The World No. 8 was broken while serving for the second set at 5-3 but regrouped to break Auger-Aliassime in a set that featured six breaks of serve. There were 12 in total for the match.

The raucous crowd was trying to will the 19-year-old Auger-Aliassime to his second Masters 1000 quarter-final (Miami 2019), chanting “Let’s go, Felix!” throughout the match.

But Khachanov, at age 23, four years Auger-Aliassime’s senior, was the more composed of the two in the decider, commanding play from the baseline and benefitting from some nervy play on Auger-Aliassime’s side.

“Honestly, it was a roller coaster today. Not many matches have been played like that,” Khachanov said. “Today was tough conditions, really windy. I think both of us were struggling to take our serves, which are pretty powerful normally. I just had to win playing a little bit ugly.”

The Canadian had a late opening as Khachanov served at 0/30, 5-3, but the Russian again settled his nerves, ending the match with four straight points. The 19-year-old Auger-Aliassime committed 12 double faults, compared to 10 aces, for the match.

“I have to stay proud of what I’ve done. For sure I’m frustrated because it was a big occasion. There was a lot of expectations, pressure, you name it. I think I handled that well,” Auger-Aliassime said. “But to be playing good and to lead in a match, to have a chance to win… It’s tough to see it slip away, but there’s a reason for that. It just means that I still have things to improve to win these types of matches and to deal better with these types of moments.”

Khachanov made his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros in June and is through to his first Masters 1000 quarter-final since March at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (l. to Nadal). But the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier has taken a liking to Canada in past years, making the semi-finals in Toronto last year, before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

The Russian won’t have to face Nadal until the final, but third seed Alexander Zverev will have plenty to say about Khachanov reaching the semi-finals. The 2017 champion beat Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5, 5-7, 7-6(5) to make his second Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season (Madrid).

“Once you’re in the quarter-finals,” Khachanov said, “you just have to step up and believe more in yourself and take opportunities if you have them.”

It wasn’t easy but fleet of foot, caressed groundstroke winners at close quarters and match sharpness proved to be the difference for Dominic Thiem on Thursday when he negotiated a tough test against Marin Cilic at the Coupe Rogers.

Thiem stared down all nine break points he faced — four at 3-3 in the first set and five in the second set at 0-1 (three) and 5-4 (two) — to win 7-6(7), 6-4 over one hour and 53 minutes for a place in the third round.

Clever changes of pace and aggressive ball-striking from Cilic kept Thiem on his toes, but in the first set tie-break featuring two momentum shifts, it was the Austrian’s consistency that was decisive.

Having recovered from 15/40 in his first service game of the second set, Thiem pounced with terrific length on his groundstroke returns and broke for a 2-1 advantage with a fine cross-court forehand winner in the service that left Cilic flat-footed at the net. Later, at 5-4, he weathered another storm from 15/40 and closed out his 31st win of 2019 on his fourth match point.

Second seed Thiem, who had gone 0-5 in previous appearances at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Canada, is building up a head of steam ahead of his quarter-final against eighth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev, who knocked out Cristian Garin of Chile 6-3, 6-3 in 70 minutes. Both Thiem and Medvedev are bidding to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Thiem leads 2-0 in their FedEx ATPHead2Head series.

The 25-year-old Thiem is now six matches unbeaten, which includes his 14th ATP Tour title last week at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel (d. Ramos-Vinolas). In March, soon after beginning his partnership with coach Nicolas Massu, Thiem captured his first Masters 1000 crown at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (d. Federer).

Cilic, the No. 14 seed, who has recently begun working with former World No. 6 Wayne Ferreira, continues to rebuild his confidence after a right injury earlier in the season and is 15-12 overall this year.

Swede Thomas Johansson last competed on the ATP Tour more than a decade ago. But nearly every day since arriving at the Coupe Rogers, where he is coaching Belgian David Goffin, fans have approached the former World No. 7. The reason why: 20 years ago Thursday, Johansson lifted his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Montreal.

“It’s one of the few places that when you walk around, people actually come up to me and say, ‘I remember the final. I remember that you won here in ‘99.’ Every time I come to Montreal, I almost feel like I’m at home,” Johansson told ATPTour.com. “It’s a lot of fun because some people, they remember the matches, they don’t remember just the final. I played two Canadians here that year and the atmopshere was amazing.

“I always loved to go out on a big stadium with a lot of people, especially that year. I played Simon Larose in the first round during a night session with a lot of people and then I played Sebastien Lareau with also a lot of people. That is what you practise for. You practise for going out on big courts, playing big matches against big players, so that’s what you train for each and every day.”

Before the event, Johansson had never advanced past the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 tournament. But he defeated former World No. 1s Jim Courier and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, while coming back from a set down in both the semi-finals against Nicolas Kiefer and the championship match against Kafelnikov, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in July.

“I was only 24 years old, so for me it was a huge title,” Johansson said. “All of the best players in the world were here. That was like an approval that if I played my best tennis, I could compete with the best players in the world. So that was a sign that I was on the right track.

“I felt that I belonged, but I also felt that beating Kafelnikov and also beating Jim Courier, to beat those two big champions was just amazing.”

Listen To ATP Tennis Radio’s Interview With Johansson:

Entering the final, then-World No. 22 Johansson trailed World No. 4 Kafelnikov 3-4 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and he dropped the opening set 1-6. But Johansson stormed back to win the match — and what was his biggest title at the time — and he would ultimately claim nine of the 14 matches in their rivalry.

“I didn’t feel a lot of pressure because I felt that I was the underdog. He was the favourite by far,” Johansson said. “I knew going into that match that it was going to be a battle. But I managed to play really, really well. I think I played my best match of the tournament in the final.”

The big-serving Johansson would go on to win the 2002 Australian Open, but his Montreal triumph remains one of the biggest moments of his career, making his trips to Canada more special, even 20 years on.

“It sounds like I’m very old,” Johansson joked.

Whether that’s true or not, he provided memories in Canada that Montreal fans have not forgotten.

The ATP has announced that the following players have been elected to the ATP Player Council:

• 1-50 Singles: Rafael Nadal
• 1-100 Doubles: Jurgen Melzer
• At Large: Roger Federer

Nadal, Melzer, and Federer were elected by the existing members of the Player Council to fill the roles vacated following the resignations of Robin Haase, Jamie Murray, and Sergiy Stakhovsky prior to Wimbledon. They will begin their roles with immediate effect and will serve until the end of the existing term which runs through to Wimbledon 2020. The position of Coach representative, following the resignation of Daniel Vallverdu, is to be determined in due course.

The next Player Council meeting is scheduled in New York prior to the US Open. The ATP Player Council is comprised of the following:

• 1-50 Singles: Kevin Anderson (VP), John Isner, Rafael Nadal, Sam Querrey

• 51-100 Singles: Yen-Hsun Lu, Vasek Pospisil

• 1-100 Doubles: Jurgen Melzer, Bruno Soares

• At Large: Novak Djokovic (P), Roger Federer

• Alumni: Colin Dowdeswell

• Coach: TBD