Félix Auger-Aliassime continued his sublime return to form at the US Open with another demonstration of his growing maturity as he held his nerve in the decisive moments of a messy, nerve-racking four-hour tussle to defeat the eighth seed Alex de Minaur 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (4) and reach the semi-finals in New York.
By pulling off one of the most significant victories of his career, Auger‑Aliassime has now reached the US Open semi-finals for a second time in his career, four years after his first semi-final in 2021. “It feels amazing. Four years ago, it feels like more, honestly,” he said. “It was a tough couple of years but it feels even better now to be back in the semi-finals.”
Having scaled as high as No 6 in 2022, Auger-Aliassime has struggled in recent years with a number of injuries and confidence issues, those difficulties underlined by his ATP ranking of No 27. This year, he could not find his level at the biggest tournaments, losing before the third round of the first three grand slams of this year. His final match before the US Open was a 6-0, 6-2 battering by Jannik Sinner in Cincinnati, a defeat that could have hurt his confidence.
In New York, however, everything has fallen into place for the Canadian. Auger-Aliassime had followed up his excellent four-set victory against the No 3 seed Alexander Zverev with a dominant performance in his straight sets win against Andrey Rublev, the 15th seed. He has been playing great tennis, pairing his devastating serve, forehand and athleticism with greater patience and intelligence around the court.
However, even when confidence is high, the stratospheric stakes of grand slam tennis mean it is not always possible to play well. Sometimes it is important just to survive. The two players entered Arthur Ashe Stadium fully conscious of the massive opportunity ahead. While this match-up presented De Minaur with his best opportunity to finally break new ground and reach his first grand slam semi-final on his sixth attempt, Auger-Aliassime is trying to find his way back after a turbulent few years with injuries and faltering confidence.
Alex de Minaur has now gone out in the quarter-finals in five of his past seven grand slam tournaments. Photograph: John G Mabanglo/EPA
This occasion made for a tense, tumultuous tussle where neither could summon their best level for sustained periods and momentum constantly shifted. De Minaur led by a break in the second set before immediately losing serve for the first time in the match, then Auger‑Aliassime failed to serve out the third set. It seemed like a fifth set was on the cards as De Minaur served for the fourth, but Auger-Aliassime instead dragged himself back into the match and closed it out in four.
By the final stages of each set, with the pressure at its highest, it was Auger-Aliassime who served well under pressure and was determined to take control of the points against a struggling De Minaur.
“Just a lot of nerves today through the whole match,” Auger-Aliassime said after the match. “It wasn’t pretty at all times but that’s what grand slam matches are. Sometimes, some days you won’t feel your best but I was willing to dig really deep and do everything I can to stay here, right now.”
It has now been a full decade since Auger-Aliassime first showed his promise reaching the quarter‑final of an ATP Challenger event at 14 years old. As the first of the 2000s generation to make his move on the professional circuit, the hype was deafening. His career has undoubtedly been a massive success, and he has established himself as one of the best players in the world, but he wants more. This week represents a step towards the 25‑year-old living up to his enormous ambitions.
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As Auger-Aliassime celebrated a breakthrough victory, this was a crushing defeat for De Minaur. Despite his growing frustration with his inability to reach a major semi-final, four of his previous quarter-final opponents were established top five players, with the No 1 Jannik Sinner most recently dismantling him at the Australian Open in January. The only anomaly, Jack Draper here last year, has since reached those heights himself.
In contrast to the dominant performances he faced in his previous encounters, this time he found himself against a lower-ranked opponent who was unable to find his best tennis under such pressure. This time, he simply could not handle the pressure.
“It is very tough when you have worked so hard for something and you constantly are putting yourself in positions to, in a way, prove people wrong, right? But yet again, you kind of fall, and especially this time, it’s a tough one to take,” said de Minaur.
“There is no beating around the bush. It’s one of those matches that I would love to play again. There are other times that the opponent has a lot to say, and I have played quarterfinals where I played Jannik, and he was just too good, right, and there’s not really much I could have done. But I feel like this one was on my racket, and it is a shame. I don’t know how I’ll handle it. I’m definitely, as of right now, seeing red, but yeah, I’ll get over it. It’s just tennis, right?”
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