Tennis News: Canadian tennis player Felix Auger Aliassime showed no signs of panicking under pressure in the fourth round of the Australian Open 2022.
The world number 9 bounced back from a slow start to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the third straight year with a 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 win over the 27th seed Marine Cilic. .
The 21-year-old, who is making his third Australian Open appearance, was overjoyed after picking up his first victory in four attempts against Croatian Cilic in a match that lasted 3 hours 39 minutes at the John Cain Arena.
“I trust myself even more,” exclaimed Auger Aliassime. “It’s my first victory against him, in such an important moment. I told him at the end of the match that he was a champion, the way he behaved, the way he played, he played at his best , tested me and made me work hard to win. I’m really relieved and happy that I got through it, especially the way I did.”
Cilic recorded a straight-sets win when they last met, in the 2021 Stuttgart final and looked confident of producing much the same early form, including breaking it twice to easily win the opening set.
The Canadian had many struggles in Melbourne, including a five-set victory over Emil Ruusuvuori and he had to fight again against 2014 US Open champion Cilic.
“He hit so well at the start of the match,” added Auger Aliassime. “I played a bad game at 4-2, but the rest of the set I think he just played better than me, did everything better.”
“The second set was tight, but it was a crucial turning point. You can’t go 2-0 down, it would be quite difficult, so that was a crucial moment, and then in the third set I started to feeling better and better.”
With this victory, the world number 9 has closed the head-to-head gap against Cilic by 1-3 and in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, he will face world number 2 Daniil Medvedev.
Auger Aliassime, whose best Grand Slam achievement was when he reached the US Open semi-finals last season, is now 7-2 in 2022. He has won five of six tie he has had at the Australian Open this season.
Article tag: Tennis, Australian Open, Felix Auger Aliassime, sailor cilic
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/tenis/hasil-australian-open-felix-auger-aliassime-akhiri-perjalanan-marin-cilic
“Pop culture fanatic. Introvert. Devoted food trailblazer. Bacon geek. Lifelong coffee evangelist.”