Wimbledon 2021: Felix Auger-Aliassime beats Alexander Zverev as Novak Djokovic cruises through
The Canadian reached his first grand slam quarter-final.
Felix Auger-Aliassime saluted the finest victory of his career after beating Alexander Zverev at Wimbledon to win a five-setter for the first time.
The Canadian reached his first grand slam quarter-final with a 6-4 7-6 (6) 3-6 3-6 6-4 triumph in four gruelling hours.
Auger-Aliassime had only been the distance once before, losing from two sets ahead against Aslan Karatsev at last year’s US Open.
The 20-year-old also had a two-set lead against fourth seed Zverev, who has already played an incredible 25 five-set matches in his relatively short career, winning 16 of them.
Zverev looked a likely winner when he finally rediscovered his first serve and levelled the match at 2-2.
But Auger-Aliassime found another gear just as Zverev’s serve deserted him again in the decider.
“It’s a dream come true, unbelievable,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I’m just a normal guy from Montreal and here I am. Court One, Wimbledon.
“It’s surely the best victory of my life so far. With the roof closed the sound was crazy, like nothing I’ve experienced before.
I'm just a normal guy from Montreal and here I am. Court One, Wimbledon
“It was super difficult, I’ve never beaten Alex before, or even won a set against him. When he started serving better and things got difficult I had to dig deep.”
Auger-Aliassime will meet Queen’s Club champion Matteo Berrettini, who beat Ilya Ivashka 6-4 6-3 6-1.
Canada day may have been last Thursday but the nation was celebrating two quarter-finalists after Denis Shapovalov beat Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets.
Top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic had little trouble in dispensing of Chile’s Christian Garin 6-2 6-4 6-2, and eight-time winner Roger Federer joined his rival in the last eight after beating Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 7-5 6-4 6-2.
Djokovic will play Marton Fucsovics who finally defeated his nemesis Andrey Rublev.
The Russian fifth seed had beaten Fucsovics three times this year but the Hungarian won 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-0 6-3 to reach his first grand slam quarter-final.
There was a marathon on Court 18 with 25th seed Karen Khachanov beating Sebastian Korda 10-8 in the fifth set.
Second seed Daniil Medvedev was two sets to one up and 3-4, on serve, in the fourth when his match against Hubert Hurkacz was curtailed by rain. The winner will face Federer.