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Felix broke back in double-quick time and holds in similar fashion; just as he looked to be fading, he’s found a way back in, attacking but with more control, and this next De Minaur service-game is a biggun.
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Maybe this’ll get him going: Auger-Aliassime sends a flat forehand spinning cross-court for a sensational winner and 15-all and is he finally going after the multitude of second serves he’s facing? You bet he is, a weak second serve given the treatment at 15-40, allowing another forehand winner to secure the break-back. De Minaur leads 6-4 3-3, but might we be watching momentum switch?
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Felix is caught between two stools: he’s not hitting consistently enough to unleash, but if he’s tentative, as he was at the end of that last game, he’ll lose. It won’t be surprising if, in the disappointment of putting in all that effort to not break, he’s broken himself and, as I type, a leaping volley from close to the net arranges Demon 15-40. He can’t take the first opportunity, but snaffles the second, and at 6-4 3-2, he leads by a set and a break. This match is disappearing, fast.
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This is a massive game for Felix, who’s burned two break point in it, and when De Minaur wrongfoots him with a backhand, coaxed down the line, it’s over. The Aussie leads 6-4 2-2.
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Now then. Felix unloads on a forehand and it earns him 0-30 … at which point a powercut intervenes, my picture returning to see Demon still serving but up advantage. Comms lets me know he’s still trying to hit service-winners and Auger-Aliassime groundstroke winners, neither especially successfully, and a netted forehand takes us back to deuce, for the eighth time in the game.
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Oh my goodness! Demon races in for a volley, is lobbed, and somehow responds with a lob of his own … that’s also a tweener! That is absolutely ridiculous behavioiur. Felix tries to get it back in similar style but can’t, and 15-all soon becomes 15-30, but from there, he finds what he needs to hold for 4-6 2-1. De Minaur, though, is now the better player.
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A gorgeous drop makes 0-15 then, at 40-30, a rare unforced error from De Minaur, a backhand into the net, takes us to deuce. So Felix unleashes a terrifying forehand … only for Demon to stick in the point, switch momentum, and incite an error borne of frustration. Seconds later, the hold is secured for 6-4 1-1.
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The problem Felix has is that he doesn’t want to go for too much, but he also doesn’t want to get bogged down in long, sapping rallies against someone more suited to them. Thing is, he has enough power to dictate without going mad with it, he just needs to pull back a little, either with power or with seeking lines … and, as I type, he finds himself a break-point down … making deuce with a big serve. A second-serve ace out wide then earns advantage … but another error restores deuce and from there he secures an important hold. Though De Minaur leads 6-4 0-1, the sense is that the game is on Auger-Aliassime’s racket: if his hitting works, he wins, and if it doesn’t, he doesn’t.
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Alex de Minaur takes the first set against Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4
A really poor miss from Felix, on the backhand with loads of space to hit, hands over advantage and a second set point, then an overhit forehand confirms it. Despite not landing a single first serve in the game, De Minaur leads 6-4, and Felix will be raging at his inability to profit. It does not augur-aliassime well.
Despite his first serve, Alex De Minaur gets his nose in front. Photograph: Mike Segar/ReutersShare
Updated at 12.39 EDT
Felix makes 15-0 but a big forehand to the backhand corner – exactly the kind of shot Demon is looking to play – levels the game. But he’s struggling a bit on first serve now, forced to rely on his fabled retrieval skills when a booming forehand takes control of the rally, before cleverly switching momentum and forcing the error; 30-15. But another big forehand from Auger-Aliassime is good enough to win the next point and we wind up at 5-4 deuce; this is developing into an absorbing struggle.
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Two aces in the game as Felix makes 40-15, but a leaping animal of a forehand gives Demon a sniff … before the hold is secured. After a sit-down, the Aussie will serve for the first set at 5-4.
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De Minaur does enough, securing a huge hold for 5-3 in the first. Felix needs to pull back on his forehand just a little, his opponent’s ability to retrieve inciting him to go for a little too much.
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Down 0-15, an ace down the T levels the game, then Felix comes in and somehow, Demon hooks a forehand past him – I think he leaves it – and it sails inside the line. A double, though, restores parity at 30-all, then a backhand swiped wide donates break-back point; already it looks like these two are exceptionally well matched. And though De Minaur saves advantage, he’s soon facing another, a long rally develops, Felix in charge, but the second he drops a ball short it’s punished back at him and so it’s to deuce once more.
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The first is seized back via ace, the second almost so. But a fault is called then, during a longer rally, Auger-Aliassime running around his backhand on every shot, he eventually goes long and De Minaur has the break, up 4-3 in the first set.
Felix Auger-Aliassime eyes the ball after playing a backhand return to Alex de Minaur. Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/APShare
Updated at 12.21 EDT
For anyone wondering why this isn’t being done in the game-by-game format, it’s because we’ve got two matches and potentially – hopefully – eight hours of action. So to save my sanity, we’re doing it this way and, as I type, Felix pushes a forehand wide to give De Minaur 0-30 and the first glimmer of an opportunity. Which he forces home with a really good backhand down the line, raising three break points in the process…
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Two more straightforward holds; Felix, who leads 3-2 is serving beautifully. But can he make an impression on De Minaur’s delivery? The Demon has worked hard to put on a bit more muscle, so there’s more on his balls now, but he’s working with weaker raw materials than pretty much everyone in the elite, which is why he’s never gone beyond the last eight of a major. As we said at the top, this is a huge opportunity for him, because Felix is an opponent he’ll fancy himself to beat, whereas Zverev is in that tier of players he rarely beats.
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Now an easy hold for Demon, and though it’s possible one of these takes three tight sets, the sense is that we’re settling in for a good few hours. Let’s hope so: we’ve had too many one-sided matches these last 10 days and we’re due a classic. That said, I really enjoyed the beating Osaka put on Gauff, with Muchova v Kostyuk probably my most enjoyed match so far. Meantime, Felix nails an ace for 40-30, then spanks a forehand into the corner. But De Minaur hoists a moon-ball of a lob and the overhead goes into the net; at 1-1 deuce, here comes pressure … quickly alleviated with a monstrous serve and follow-up overhead. That’s a really good sign, given what happened in the previous point, and when the Demon nets, he leads 2-1 in the first, on serve.
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Auger-Aliassime holds to 15, looking pretty good while doing it. He’s into the match and looks good and businesslike. And for extra points, he’s got Daffy Duck on his shirt.
Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Daffy Duck, what a legend. I can’t say I don’t enjoy Bugs’ smarm and smartarsery, I do, but ultimately Daffy is my boy.
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Updated at 11.54 EDT
And off we go.
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And out they come.
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Both our players are engaged, soon to be married. Mazal tov, boys.
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I guess we might look at Felix and say yeah, but Zverev hasn’t been the same since his Aussie Open final undressing, just as Rublev is on the way down too. And we’d be right to: perspective is important. However he’s taken both apart and is talking like someone who’s ready; who knows his time is now.
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Oh Demon! Ohhhh maaaaaate!
Photograph: Sky Sports
Someone chuck that man a lifebelt, he’s drowning.
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I really like that Sky have, finally, started giving us proper analysis; Ryan Harrison is a terrific addition to the team. Currently, he’s showing us Anisimova’s footwork off the return, a little hop to the left opening both sides of the court. She was superb in outclassing Bia Haddad Maia last round and I really fancy her to make if difficult for Swiatek on hard, and really respect the way she’s come back after Wimbledon when she might’ve felt sorry for herself after folding so publicly. If she plays close to her best today, I think she wins … but Swiatek has the skill to ensure she doesn’t.
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I strongly fancy Felix in our first match, on the basis that if he plays well, he’ll have too much for De Minaur, who has a higher bottom level but a lower top level. It’s a form thing really – Auger-Aliassime has played three great matches in a row and is in the nock of his life. He’ll be made to play a lot of balls, but has the ability to explode with winners, which the Demon does not.
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Preamble
Yes yes ya’ll and welcome to the US Open 2025 – day 11!
Some years ago now, a tennis coach mate messaged me excitedly, telling me he’d seen the future: a kid with power and grace who moved more beautifully than anyone he’d seen before. Amazingly, so good was he at 16 that the only relevant comparators were Boris Becker and Rafael Nadal.
That kid was Felix Auger-Aliassime and, it’s fair to say, he hasn’t quite progressed as expected. Of course he had weaknesses back then, most particularly his second serve, his return and his volleying, but even when granted the gift of a Covid hiatus to get them sorted, they stayed pretty much the same as they always were.
Now, at 25, the sense is that he is what he is: a bloody good player who’ll never be grand slam champion – whatever his natural gifts insist he’s capable of. And yet, and yet, and yet. In the last two rounds, he’s accounted for Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev for the loss of just one set, playing close to as well as he can, and in Alex de Minaur finds an eminently beatable last-eight opponent, able to scurry and retrieve as well as anyone on tour, but lacking the weapons to dominate. For both men, this is a moment, a major quarter-final against the other the kind chance that may never come round again.
Following them on to court is a redemption battle of epic proportions. When Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova met in the Wimbledon final, the result was a historic 6-0 6-0 humiliation that will haunt the American until the day she does and perhaps beyond. She fought for years, making all the usual sacrifices sportsfolk do, was brave enough to take a mental health break, then returned, realised a dream, and stood powerless as it was mercilessly devastated in front of the world.
On a hard court, though, she’ll fancy her chances of hitting at the top of the bounce, her casual power enough to disquiet anyone – even Swiatek who, though she’s rediscovered herself in recent months, is not far removed from a major downturn in form and confidence. The Wimbledon champ is the favourite, but Anisimova has everything required to get after her in what should be an absolutely banging contest.
Play: 11.30am local, 4.30pm BST
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