Félix Auger-Aliassime partially saved the furniture from his difficult season last Sunday, by winning the title in Basel, a tournament in which he was the defending champion. But the Quebecer still had valuable ranking points to defend at the Paris Masters this week after reaching the Final Four last year.
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“FAA” absolutely had to make it to the semi-finals again in order to remain among the 20 best players in the world. And on Wednesday he failed in that task when he lost his flag in the second round to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, the seventh player in the ATP rankings.
Although he led with a break against Tsitsipas in the second set, Félix ultimately lost 6:3 and 7:6 (4).
Because of this setback, he is expected to be ranked 29th in the world next Monday, when the new results of the men’s ranking are announced.
This will be his lowest ranking in more than four years: on May 13, 2019, Félix, then 18 years old, was ranked 30th.
Three wins in 12 tournaments
Auger-Aliassime started this season in sixth place. However, after an injury to his right knee last April, the young player experienced a series of failures, at times only winning three games in twelve tournaments.
And the Quebecer had a lot of points to defend at the end of the year. Last fall he won three titles in a row and had a record of 16 victories.
However, Félix will have one last chance to add points to his ranking this year as he will play in Metz next week.