MONTREAL/BASEL, October 30, 2023 (Tennis Canada Press Release)

On Sunday, Félix Auger-Aliassime claimed his second title at the Swiss Indoors Basel in as many years after defeating Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-6(3), 7-6(5) in the final of the ATP 500-level event in Basel, Switzerland. He becomes the first Canadian to defend an ATP title since Milos Raonic won in San Jose in 2011 and 2012.

Auger-Aliassime, 23, entered the week with 17 wins on the season. That number quickly rose, with stellar victories over Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi, Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, Alexander Shevchenko, and tournament top-seed Holger Rune of Denmark. All of his matches were won in straight sets – except for the tightly contested match against Shevchenko, where Auger-Aliassime had to save a match point in the final set.

Meanwhile, Hurkacz’s road to the championship match included wins against Serbian Dusan Lajovic, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands, and Frenchman Ugo Humbert. Heading into the final, Auger-Aliassime and Hurkacz had met three times on Tour, with the Canadian leading their head-to-head 2-1. In their most recent encounter, Auger-Aliassime defeated Hurkacz by a nearly identical score to today’s match – a 7-6(2), 7-6(4) win in Halle, Germany.

In the opening set, both players were outstanding in their service games. Auger-Aliassime had the lone break-point opportunity, which was fended away by Hurkacz in the fourth game. The Canadian kept 68 per cent of first serves in play and impressively won 96 per cent of those points. In the tiebreak, Auger-Aliassime was able to dictate the majority of the points, earning two mini-breaks to take it by a score of 7-3. Auger-Aliassime’s great serving continued into the second set, dropping only four points on his serve. He had a few more opportunities in the second set to break Hurkacz, however, the World No. 11 managed to turn aside the four break points faced in the ninth and 11th games. Despite Hurkacz taking the early 2-0 lead in the tiebreak, Auger-Aliassime quickly rebounded, winning the next four points en route to claiming the Swiss Indoors Basel title.

Brilliant in Basel 🏆@felixtennis defends his Swiss Indoors title with a 7-6 7-6 victory over Hurkacz 😮‍💨#SwissIndoorsTennis pic.twitter.com/HYLGY5wmtN

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 29, 2023

“I’ve had the conviction that I could be a top player since I’m a kid but there were many doubts this year about my performances,” said Auger-Aliassime during his on-court interview. “I’m happy that I was able to prove to everybody that I still belong among the best players in the world. I never doubted it, but it’s good to confirm it on the court.”

With the win, Auger-Aliassime successfully retains the 500 points he won last year, and will remain 19th in the world rankings