Australian Alex de Minaur is absent from the US Open, losing in four sets to Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime at Flushing Meadows.
De Minaur won the first set but he couldn’t continue, losing 6-4, 6-7 (9/7), 5-7, 6-7 (7/4) in a match that lasted more than four hours at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
This defeat means that the Australian has still never reached the semi-finals of a major tournament in his career. De Minaur has now played in six quarter-finals of Grand Slam tournaments without progressing.
De Minaur, who lost at Wimbledon to Novak Djokovic while deploring the poor quality of his serve, will have to once again understand why his first serve percentage was so low at just 42.
“Right now I see this as a wasted opportunity. It’s difficult,” de Minaur said.
“I probably have no other way to deal with it but to just see things clearly, and that’s what happened today. Today was an opportunity to innovate. I was nowhere near the level I needed to be at.
“It’s frustrating because we don’t often get these opportunities.”
De Minaur again bemoaned his serve, acknowledging that it was impacting his groundstrokes as the pressure mounted.
“It’s just in these big matches that it’s the first thing that disappears,” de Minaur said.
“And it’s a shame because the only thing it does is it creates a lot more pressure on everything else.
“As the match goes on, I’m playing with the second serves, I’m behind, I feel like I have to do a little more. Then I start missing groundstrokes, which I probably wouldn’t do.
“It all depends on this service.”
Despite all this, he still seemed to have the toughness to come out on top, and as usual, there was nothing wrong with his spirit.
But again, the killer instinct wasn’t there and Auger-Aliassime, ranked world number 27, brought the pain.
In search of that elusive breakthrough, de Minaur was down a set, held a set point in the second, returned to parity in the third before succumbing and controlling the fourth. Yet he still ended up hesitating and succumbing quite meekly at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The Australian produced signature shots and court moves, frustrating Auger-Aliassime at times with his ball-chasing ability.
But both men struggled to close out sets, producing double faults and committing unforced errors. De Minaur had eight aces but committed 11 double faults for the match.
In particular, the decisive tie-break highlighted the nervousness of both players, with the first five points of the break going against the server.
Félix Auger-Aliassime defeated his second consecutive top-10 player at the US Open, beating Alex de Minaur in a fourth-set tiebreak to clinch the victory. (AP: Yuki Iwamura)
After such a disappointment for de Minaur, perhaps all that will remain is the memory of a dazzling moment that he will remember with great fondness after his defeat – featuring an incredible preteen lob that landed on the line and earned him the biggest cheers of the day from an often distracted Ashe crowd.
Auger-Aliassime, the 25th seed, has suffered from injuries and a loss of confidence since his breakthrough semi-final run at the US Open four years ago, but he brought his best to Arthur Ashe Stadium by sending down more than 22 aces and 51 winners.
His victory followed a decisive win over German third seed Alexander Zverev in the round of 16.
“It’s amazing, four years ago it was like more. It’s been a tough few years, but it feels good to be back in the semi-final,” Auger-Aliassime said after the match.
Auger-Aliassime will next face defending champion and world number one Jannik Sinner, who beat 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti.
Sinner, who also holds the Australian Open trophy, extended his hard-court winning streak to 26 matches with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 straight sets victory over his Italian compatriot.
Sinner’s thunderous strikes from the start helped him take a 5-0 lead, and although the loudest applause of the evening came when Musetti got on the board, that was the only joy he had in the first set.
Musetti briefly threatened to break early in the second, but Sinner repelled his challenge to double his advantage, before moving on to the next set and finishing it with a clean hold.
ABC/Reuters/AAP
