Felix Auger-Aliassime had his comeback attempt fall just short in a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5) loss to Andrey Rublev in the semifinals of the Qatar Open. Auger-Aliassime of Canada plays a return to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
February 21, 2025 - 10:32 AM
DOHA, Qatar - Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime had his comeback attempt fall just short in a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5) loss to Andrey Rublev on Friday in the semifinals of the Qatar Open.
Down 6-3 in the third-set tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime scored the next two points on serve. But when the serve rotated to Rublev, the fifth-seeded Russian converted on his third match point.
Auger-Aliassime lost despite firing 21 aces in the match. The world No. 23 failed to convert what turned out to be a crucial break-point chance in the first game of the third set as the players held serve the rest of the way.
Rublev took the first set when he broke Auger-Aliassime in the clinching game, but the Canadian responded with a strong second set in which he fired seven aces and won 81 per cent of service points.
Rublev improved to 6-1 against Auger-Aliassime and will next face the winner of a match between eighth-seeded Briton Jack Draper and Czechia's Jiri Lehecka, who advanced to the final four with a shocking quarterfinal upset of top seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Auger-Aliassime had advanced to the semifinal of the ATP 500 tournament after fourth seed Daniil Medvedev retired from their quarterfinal with food poisoning after dropping the first set 6-3.
The 24-year-old Canadian has a 14-4 record this season after winning titles last month in Adelaide, Australia and Montpellier, France.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2025.
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