{"id":782952,"date":"2026-07-06T02:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T02:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/782952\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T02:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T02:10:10","slug":"auger-aliassime-wins-marathon-match-to-head-to-wimbledon-quarter-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/782952\/","title":{"rendered":"Auger-Aliassime wins marathon match to head to Wimbledon quarter-final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada matched his best-ever Wimbledon showing, by qualifying for the quarter-finals with a five-set win over Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Sunday.Kin Cheung\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Until Sunday, Canadian tennis star F\u00e9lix Auger-Aliassime hadn\u2019t been getting much attention at Wimbledon even though he\u2019s the tournament\u2019s third seed and has piled up four victories, losing just two sets along the way.<\/p>\n

His time out of the limelight is about to change now that he\u2019s advanced to the quarter-finals against Novak Djokovic by surviving a four-and-a half-hour thriller against Spain\u2019s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina; 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s match was an epic story of missed opportunities and bad luck for the 22nd-seeded Spaniard, and sheer doggedness from Auger-Aliassime. <\/p>\n

It was also filled with so much drama and so many wild rallies that at one point Auger-Aliassime was almost laughing as he ran for a seemingly impossible return from Davidovich Fokina. That came during an 11-shot rally in the fourth set that saw both men cover every centimetre of the court and left Davidovich Fokina sprawled on his back and Auger-Aliassime standing smiling after firing his return wide.<\/p>\n

Serena Williams withdraws from doubles match with sister Venus at Wimbledon due to injury<\/a><\/p>\n

The match started fairly even and the first set ended in a tiebreaker that Davidovich Fokina took 7-4. He couldn\u2019t consolidate his lead in the following set and failed to convert three set points in game 12. Auger-Aliassime held his nerve and took the second set to a tiebreaker which he won 8-6.<\/p>\n

Play was halted briefly in the second set after Davidovich Fokina turned his left ankle and required treatment. He managed to continue but limped noticeably at times.<\/p>\n

Auger-Aliassime finally won a break point in the third set and looked in control as he took it 6-3. He won another break early in the fourth set and looked headed for victory. But Davidovich Fokina found a second wind. <\/p>\n

He rolled his ankle once more in the fourth set and fell to the ground in pain. He got up wincing and still managed to win a break point and take the fourth set in a tiebreaker 7-2. By then Davidovich Fokina had won over most of the crowd who gave him a standing ovation as he hobbled to his chair for the changeover. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Davidovich Fokina twice went down with an ankle injury in his match against Auger-Aliassime, but was able to continue on in the five-set battle.Kin Cheung\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Whatever strength he\u2019d found quickly slipped away in the fifth set and he staggered at times as he valiantly held off Auger-Aliassime in the seventh game to avoid a 6-0 loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played a few rollercoaster matches in the course of my career but this is for sure top of the charts,\u201d Auger-Aliassime said in an on-court interview after the match. \u201cIt was a crazy match.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a later press conference he talked about the wild rally, saying it was the \u201cbest point I\u2019ve ever played.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have the full roar of the crowd, the full crowd up on their feet while the point is playing on, it shook me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the best point I\u2019ve been a part of for sure in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also expressed frustration that Davidovich Fokina stopped play in the middle of a game to get treatment from a physiotherapist. \u201cTo stop in the middle of an opponent\u2019s service game and to be able to call the physio, I think that\u2019s a disgrace of a rule. I don\u2019t see any other sport where you can do that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Davidovich Fokina should have either carried on until his serve and then had treatment or retired from the match, he added. <\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Canadian has equaled his best showing at Wimbledon but despite his ranking \u2013 world No. 4 \u2013 and his status as a two-time quarter-finalist, he\u2019s played on Centre Court just once. That privilege came Friday when he beat American Michael Zheng 7-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the third round.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful,\u201d Auger-Aliassime said Friday of the coveted ground. \u201cWhat\u2019s so unique is the walk to the court. Such a different feeling. That was for me the main difference. It\u2019s such a different feeling than a stadium at the U.S. Open or Roland Garros. It feels like a club,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll get another chance on the main court on Tuesday against Djokovic, who cruised through his fourth-round match 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 over Roman Safiullin of Russia. The Serbian remains on track to win his 25th Grand Slam title. <\/p>\n

But whoever wins on Tuesday, likely gets a date with world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada matched his best-ever Wimbledon showing, by qualifying for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,593,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-782952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-tennis","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}