WHAT HAPPENED: The five-set format in play at the majors allows for the tennis to breathe. Momentum swings, purple patches and lulls all come into play as a match progresses, and oftentimes it’s the player with the shortest memory that can hit the crescendo and raise his fist to the sky after a grueling battle.
Tonight that player was Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian, playing in his tenth career main draw at a major, continued to trend positively by steering past a gritty Roberto Bautista Agut, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-3 to book his second consecutive trip to the Round of 16 at Flushing Meadows.
“I had to dig really deep,” Auger-Aliassime told the crowd after the match. “First of all I felt good today. I started off the best I could, winning the first two sets. It’s unfortunate, being up a break [in the third set], not solidifying, making a few weak mistakes and from there it got tricky. He was getting more and more confidence, I was serving not as good. You guys really pushed me to dig deep in my stomach to get that fifth set—thank you.”
The No.18-seeded Canadian has now notched three Top 20 wins at the majors this season—he had not recorded a single Top 50 victory at the majors prior to 2021—and reached at least the second week in four of his past five major appearances. It wasn’t a flawless performance from the 21-year-old by any means on Friday night in Louis Armstrong Stadium, but the Montreal native avoided what would have been a disheartening defeat by sticking with the script and capitalizing on his opportunities in a deciding fifth set to lock down his triumph.
The full circle moment for Auger-Aliassime came in the fifth set as he served at 4-2. The Canadian had already dropped the previous two sets and was in danger of squandering a break lead in the fifth, but he delivered the goods when it mattered most, saving three break points and sealing the 14-point game with his 25th ace of the evening.
Two games later and a smidge calmer, Auger-Aliassime served out the match, cracking his 19th forehand winner to close out the gritty Spaniard in three hours and 55 minutes of seesaw tennis.
“At some point you go through a lot of emotions but you try to calm yourself down, settle down, and be more even,” Auger-Aliassime said. “And at the end, in the fifth set, my mindset was just to play every point. Play every point the best I could.”
WHAT IT MEANS: It’s a massive win for Auger-Aliassime in more ways than one. First, he stays alive in the draw and will have a crack at either No.5 seed Andrey Rublev or Frances Tiafoe in the Round of 16. Second, Auger-Aliassime puts his devastating loss to Aslan Karatsev in the fourth round of the Australian Open further in the rearview mirror. Now that he has won his past two five-setters—against Alexander Zverev at Wimbledon and Bautista Agut today—he reinforced the belief that has been building this summer.
His coaching staff, composed of Frederic Fontang and Toni Nadal, the legendary uncle and former coach of Rafael Nadal, have been a calming presence, standing in the shadows as Auger-Aliassime learns to get more comfortable in his own competitive skin. Now their patience is being rewarded. The Canadian is emerging not just as a talent, but as a battle-worn gladiator that can find his way through adversity to victory.
MATCH POINT: Auger-Aliassime cracked 77 winners in the match, including 27 aces, against just 17 winners from Bautista Agut.
