Tough decisions ahead for Blades despite strong start to season
4h ago
The Blades are third in the eastern conference with a record of 11-5-1-1.
CINCINNATI — Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated from the men’s singles competition at the Western & Southern Open on Friday.
Auger-Aliassime fell to No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 2-6, 7-5, 1-6 in a thrilling quarterfinal in Cincinnati that lasted two hours 11 minutes.
The 23-year-old Greek has beaten the Canadian five times in seven encounters.
Auger-Aliassime, seeded 12th in Cincinnati, overcame some physical discomfort and two match points in the middle set to force a decisive third but the Montrealer could not solve Tsitsipas in the end.
After losing the opening set in 34 minutes, the Canadian could be seen wincing in discomfort during a handful of games in the second set.
Down 3-2, Auger-Aliassime requested a medical timeout and lied down on the court while a physiotherapist worked on his lower back.
Auger-Aliassime came out of the medical timeout firing but still fell behind 5-4 to Tsitsipas, who was playing some of his best tennis of the year.
The Canadian overcame two match points in the game before tying the set 5-5. In the next game, he broke Tsitsipas for the first time in the match. He then held serve to take the set.
But the Greek was not rattled after dropping the second set. He broke Auger-Aliassime to go up 3-1 in the third, then again to take a 5-1 lead. He fired an ace on match point – his sixth ace of the encounter – for the victory.
Tsitsipas will face Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the semifinal. Zverev easily defeated Casper Ruud of Norway 6-1, 6-3 in Friday’s last quarterfinal.
Earlier Friday, Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski advanced to the doubles final with partner Luisa Stefani of Brazil. They defeated Czech tandem Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 in the semifinal.
The duo is vying for a second straight women’s doubles title. Dabrowski and Stefani won the doubles final last week in Montreal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2021.
The Canadian Press