Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime knocked out of Wimbledon
Canadian tennis star Félix Auger-Aliassime has seen his Wimbledon dreams come to an end (for now).
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini knocked out the Montrealer in Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchup in four sets: 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
Despite the loss, the tournament was the 20-year-old’s best showing in a Grand Slam event so far in his young career.
Auger-Aliassime is currently ranked 19th in the ATP rankings, while Berrettini ranks ninth. It is the 25-year-old Berrettini’s first career Grand Slam semi-final appearance.
Auger-Aliassime had his chances to compete in the match but was only able to convert on 3/12 break points. Berrettini came through on 6/14 such opportunities. Auger-Aliassime had six double faults on the day to Berrettini’s three.
“It’s crazy right now,” Berrettini said in his on-court post-match interview. “Thanks to Félix. I think we made a great match. I hope you guys enjoyed. He’s one of my best friends on tour, so it’s never easy to play against him.”
Berrettini detailed how the two were quarantining together as hitting partners during this year’s Australian Open.
“We practiced for two weeks together,” he said. “Today was really tricky. It was special to play such a nice court.”
But while he was easy to give praise to the Canadian, he’s now looking ahead to his semi-final on Friday against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.
“Now, I’m happy for me,” Berrettini said with a laugh.
The winner of the Berrettini-Hurkacz match will face the winner of the match between Canada’s Denis Shapovalov and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.
Shapovalov beat Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in a five-set thriller quarterfinal earlier on Wednesday.
Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime, who also have a well-documented close friendship, were the first pair of Canadian men to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals in the same year.
As is tradition with most match losers, Auger-Aliassime did not give a post-match interview on the court.