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NEW YORK — Félix Auger-Aliassime, the No. 3 seed at this year’s U.S. Open, bowed out in the second round Thursday afternoon after a sudden drop in intensity.

Auger-Aliassime lost 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to Russia’s Karen Khachanov on Louis Armstrong Stadium. A year ago, the 26-year-old Canadian was a U.S. Open semifinalist, pushing world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in a close four-set match.

One year later, the Canadian is out before the second week in Flushing Meadows, after losing to his fellow former semifinalist here.

Auger-Aliassime began to experience physical issues halfway through the second set and couldn’t recover.

“I just couldn’t feel well and was dizzy and seeing spots,” Auger-Aliassime said in a news conference. He said he will undergo testing, as he had never experienced something like this before on court. “This was abnormal a little bit, and there were no signs in the last couple of days and no signs this morning.”

Khachanov said that he didn’t know if Auger-Aliassime was sick, injured or if the heat impacted him. But he did notice a dip in performance from his opponent which he seized on.

“I noticed after the first set that he was down,” Khachanov said in a news conference. “I don’t want to take out the credit from myself because I was staying there fighting for three and a half hours, trying to bring the best effort.”

The match had started strong for Auger-Aliassime. Despite losing a break advantage, Auger-Aliassime recovered to win the first-set tiebreak. But from there, Khachanov settled into the match. He began to hit with pace and confidence from the baseline, as Auger-Aliassime went 0 for 5 on break points in a set that was closer than the 6-3 scoreline.

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At 1-1 in the match, Auger-Aliassime’s level tumbled. In the third set, he tossed in five double faults, including one serving at *1-5 where the ball on the second serve landed on his side of the court, not even reaching the net. More concerning was how hampered he appeared in his movement, with heavy legs and little ability to push off on his serve.

The errors began to pile up too. Khachanov, the 30-year-old Russian was powerful off his return but Auger-Aliassime was spraying groundstrokes or hitting balls into the net. The Canadian won just four return points in the third set, as Khachanov dropped just two games.

Auger-Aliassime was moving lethargically, not showing a lot of energy, dumping water on his head during changeovers to cool down. There were sunny, warm conditions at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, with temperatures reaching the high 80s, following four days of grey and cool rain.

The crowd was trying to help Auger-Aliassime, with “Let’s go Félix!” chants and applause. But nothing seemed to work. On the same court a year ago, Auger-Aliassime played some of his best tennis in recent years when he upset Alexander Zverev in the third round, en route to his second U.S. Open semifinal.

Auger-Aliassime said he wished he had lost to Khachanov playing healthy, which wasn’t the case.

“I cannot beat him or anybody in this draw feeling the way I felt today,”  Auger-Aliassime said. “If I cannot move, we’re not talking about tennis here.

“It’s unfortunate. I wish we were talking about tennis. I wish that I was beaten and we were talking about what I could have done better tennis-wise, but it’s not the case.”

The Slam season ends on a difficult note for Auger-Aliassime, who had reached two consecutive quarterfinals after losing in the first round at the Australian Open. He lost to eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli at the French Open, in a tournament when Jannik Sinner lost in the second round and Carlos Alcaraz didn’t play. At Wimbledon, Auger-Aliassime lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets in one of the most thrilling men’s Grand Slam matches of the year.

After the defeat to Cobolli, Auger-Aliassime sounded a note that several top-10 men’s players have sounded this year: After a period of Sinner-and-Alcaraz dominance, there has been more opportunity this year; not being able to grasp it hurts more than an ordinary loss.

“I can’t complain with my life, but I’m in a place right now with my tennis career that it’s tough. You know, I’m a little bit, like, I’m destroyed today a little bit,” he said in Paris.

Khachanov will face either France’s Benjamin Bonzi or Peru’s Ignacio Buse in the third round, after recording his first win over a top-10 player at a major since 2019.