Daniil Medvedev continues to be a riddle that Félix Auger-Aliassime can not clear up.
The Canadian’s first title defence got here to an finish within the quarter-finals of the Rotterdam Open on Friday as he fell to 0-5 in his profession towards the previous world No. 1 with a straight-set loss.
Stylistically, Medvedev has all the time been a tough match-up for Auger-Aliassime and that was no totally different within the quarter-final conflict. As rallies have been prolonged, the Canadian struggled to discover a technique to finish factors as Medvedev’s sensible defence took the day 6-2, 6-4.
Medvedev was rock stable within the rallies, committing a mere 5 unforced errors whereas coaxing 20 out of the Canadian. He additionally feasted on Auger-Aliassime’s second serve, successful 67 per cent of these factors. The defending champion did himself few favours by placing simply 50 per cent of his first serves in play.
Conserving factors brief was all the time going to be key for the Auger-Aliassime and he obtained off to a powerful begin, opening the match with 4 huge serves for a love maintain. Nevertheless, as quickly because the rallies obtained past a few pictures, the benefit started to shift to Medvedev.
The sixth seed had his first break level of the match within the third sport however missed a return. A very good serve initially bailed Auger-Aliassime out once more within the fifth sport however he missed a forehand on the third break level to give up to fall behind.
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Again-to-back errors from the Canadian gave Medvedev a second break and a 5-2 lead. Whereas Auger-Aliassime was struggling to impose himself on serve, the sixth seed was cruising, successful his first 9 first serve factors and solely dropping two factors in his first three service video games. Serving for the set was the primary problem he confronted, however Medvedev saved a pair of break factors as he closed out it out.
It was an analogous begin within the second set, with Auger-Aliassime errors making a gift of the break within the third sport. Nevertheless, this time Medvedev handed the break proper again, driving a backhand into the web to give up serve for the primary time within the match. It was simply his third unforced error of the day at that stage.
Any hope of a comeback for the Canadian was short-lived. At 3-3, a pair of forehand misses gave the break again to Medvedev and this time the previous world No. 1 didn’t let up.
Quite than aiming for a 3rd remaining in Marseille, Auger-Aliassime is predicted to play on the ATP 500 occasion in Dubai subsequent week. He might want to attain the semifinals to make up for his factors from Marseille, the place he reached the ultimate final 12 months.
