There was no repeat of the 2022 magic for Félix Auger-Aliassime in Antwerp as the Canadian was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European Open by Roberto Bautista Agut on Friday in three sets.
The Canadian, who won the Antwerp title in 2022, refused to go away in the third set despite playing from behind throughout. But in the end, Bautista Agut proved too consistent, sneaking out a 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(6) win.
Auger-Aliassime lived and died by his big-hitting in the quarter-final clash, nearly doubling his opponent’s winner count 41 to 21 but committing far too many unforced errors with 58, while Bautista Agut only had 29. The pair actually won the same amount of points, 105 each.
Throughout the opening set, Auger-Aliassime found himself under pressure on serve but was able to hang tough. He saved break points in three of his five service games, including both after he secured a break of his own midway through the set.
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That came in the sixth game when Bautista Agut put a backhand volley into the net at 30-all and then Auger-Aliassime used his big forehand to draw an error to go ahead 4-2. Despite the pressure on his serve, the Canadian was able to get the two holds he needed to take the opening set.
He could only hold off the scrappy Spaniard for so long. In his first service game of the second set, Auger-Aliassime finally cracked. He managed to save a break point with an impressive curling forehand passing shot but a double fault gave Bautista Agut a second look and the Canadian sliced a backhand long to finally drop serve.
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Bautista Agut, who was upping his aggression and taking control away from the Canadian in the second set, saved the lone break point he faced in the third game and broke again at the end of the set to send the match to a decider.
Set three looked like it could be a repeat of the second when the Canadian double-faulted to go down 15-40 in his first service game, but this time he was able to find a smash and a big serve to escape the threat.
A poor game at 3-4 from Auger-Aliassime looked to be the final nail in his coffin when he played a poor game to get broken to love but Bautista Agut let him off the hook as he served for the match, missing back-to-back forehands to put the set back on serve.
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The Spaniard again seemed on the brink of victory when he got an early minibreak in the tiebreak and stretched his lead to 6-3, only for Auger-Aliassime to make one last push to save the first three match points and level the breaker at 6-6. However, it was all for not as he mishit a forehand to give the Spaniard a fourth chance and then drove a backhand wide to finally drop the match.
Auger-Aliassime will need to find another gear next week as he has 500 points to defend in Basel, where he will go for a third consecutive title.