Félix Auger-Aliassime, strong from his final in Madrid, had the weapons to beat Alex de Minaur, 11th in the world, but on Monday, his serve betrayed him. He lost in three sets of 7-6 (7/2), 4-6 and 4-6.
The Montrealer committed 13 double faults and his success rate with his first ball was 51%. Deprived of his service, how could he get by?
This is the Australian’s first victory in three matches.
Félix is a very good player on clay. He started the match with a lot of confidence, so I’m glad I hung in there. Even in a broken situation at the end of the match, I got through it. So I am satisfied with my work today, said the winner.
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(Translation: A close tennis match. Alex de Minaur wins a three-hour fight against Félix Auger-Aliassime at the Foro Italica stadium)
Pugnacious, Auger-Aliassime had to draw on all the energy he had to sustain the exchange and push his opponent to play three rounds. It wasn’t enough.
He had given himself a one-set lead, despite a poor serve (6 double faults and a low success rate of 56% with his first ball).
The situation got worse in the second with 45% success with his first ball. He had to work hard to tie the game up to 4-4. But what had to happen…
In the ninth game, de Minaur broke the serve of the 20th player in the world and saved a break point to pocket the set. We were 2 hours and 10 minutes into the game.
The Australian maintained the pressure in the third set and took his opponent’s serve in the third game to lead 2-1.
Unable to regain his serve, Auger-Aliassime had to catch up in the exchange to not let go. But at 4-4, he committed his 13th double fault and de Minaur made it 5-4.
He didn’t let this gift go to waste and took it to the next game after three hours on the court.
My results on clay are not great, he admitted. There is room for improvement. I’m in a good mood at the moment. And when it’s hot, I play well. But I’m taking it one game at a time. And today I played well. We’ll see next time.
Alex de Minaur will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, 8th in the ATP, in the next round.
Rublev tombe, Medvedev passe
After Rafael Nadal on Saturday and Novak Djokovic on Sunday, the Masters 1000 in Rome lost another of its headliners on Monday, Andrey Rublev, 6th in the world, surprised by a player from qualifying, the Frenchman Alexandre Müller.
Recent winner in Madrid, the Russian lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 against the 109th in the world.
Rublev seemed in control after a first round completed in 33 minutes, but he lost his footing at the start of the second period.
Müller, 27, made tactical adjustments which completely confused his opponent. I changed lots of little things as the match progressed (…) He could hurt me less. It happened little by little like a spider weaving its web, detailed the Frenchman, whose title to glory until then was a lost final of the ATP 250 tournament in Marrakech in 2023.
hen he had never beaten a player in the top 10 in five attempts, nor in the top 20 in eight attempts, Müller signed the most resounding victory of his career with an ace on his third match point.
He will face the Chilean Nicolas Jarry (24th), clay court specialist, on Tuesday, who defeated the Italian Stefano Napolitano (125th) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
The defending champion, the Russian Daniil Medvedev (4th) was jostled by the Serbian Hamad Medjedovic (121st), author of 41 winning points, against 18 for his opponent.
Having passed through qualifying like Müller, Medjedovic, winner of the Masters under 22, at the end of last season, finally lost 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 7-5.
I didn’t play my best tennis today, but I’m happy to have gotten through it, Medvedev insisted.
In a bad situation, the Dane Holger Rune (12th) did not go beyond the 3rd round, worn out by the Argentinian Sebastian Baez (19th) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Other results from the third round:
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE/no 6) bat Cameron Norrie (GBR/no 27) 6-2, 7-6 (7/1)
- Nicolás Jarry (CHI/no 21) beat Stefano Napolitano (ITA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
- Hubert Hurkacz (POL/no 7) bat Tomás Etcheverry (ARG/no 25) 7-6 (9/7), 6-2
- Tommy Paul (USA/no 14) bat Dominik Koepfer (GER) 6-4, 6-3
Protesters disrupt matches
A women’s singles match and a men’s doubles match were interrupted by the entry onto the courts of environmental activists from the Last Generation group.
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Protesters disrupted two tennis matches in Rome.
Photo : Getty Images / Mike Hewitt
Dressed in orange vests, they stood in the center of the field, threw a liquid substance on the court and confetti, before being evacuated by the tournament security service and by Italian police officers.
The organization began carrying out non-violent actions in Italy in 2022 at the time of the legislative elections, calling on the political class to make climate one of their priorities.
In March, three Last Generation activists briefly interrupted the Rome marathon before being arrested by the police.
With information from Agence France-Presse
2024-05-13 21:12:39
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