Auger-Aliassime Plays The Big Points Well, Reaches Montpellier Semifinals Again

Felix Auger-Aliassime
Felix Auger-Aliassime (photo: Open Occitanie/JB Autissier)

MONTPELLIER/WASHINGTON, January 31, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Felix Auger-Aliassime leads the ATP Tour in indoor wins since the start of 2022 season with 51 – and for good reason. His all-court game – including his comfort level in hitting the ball from both wings – and his ability to play all of the big points well, seems quite suitable to both the climate and surface that indoor tennis provides.

In his Friday afternoon quarterfinal-round match of the ATP 250-series Open Occitanie in Montpellier, France against No. 8 seed Bu Yunchaokete of China, the 24-year-old World No. 23 from Montreal became the third man born since 2000 to reach 30 tour-level semifinals. Auger-Aliassime follows in the footsteps of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy (33) and World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain (31) – and that’s pretty good company to be associated with.

In their first meeting, the No. 2 seed Auger-Aliassime defeated the 71st-ranked Bu, 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 23 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez to advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.The 131st-ranked de Jong played brilliant tennis throughout against Griekspoor during their quarterfinal – the first tour-level quarterfinal of de Jong’s career. By the end of the match, he was dominating all of the important rallies. He finished with 30 winners and outpointed Griekspoor 77-71.

Auger-Aliassime, a semifinalist in Montpellier last year, improved to 5-2 lifetime at the Sud de France Arena with his latest triumph, in which he took full advantage of a pair of service breaks against Bu – in the fourth game of the opening set to go ahead 3-1 and in the seventh game of the second set, which put the Canadian ahead 4-3 – and in consolidating both opportunities. Near the end of the second set, Auger-Aliassime showed his dominance by winning 12 of 15 puts to distance himself from Bu. In his final service game, he closed out the victory with three service aces.

By the end, Auger-Aliassime won his 223rd career match – and eighth in 10 starts this year, which includes starting 2025 with a title won in Adelaide. He finished Friday’s quarterfinal against Bu with 11 aces, won 86 percent of his first-serve points – dropping just five points – and faced no break points. Auger-Aliassime outpointed Bu 55-45. Looking back, it was a masterclass performance by Auger-Aliassime, one that pleased him overall.

“Personally, I always fear a person I’ve never played,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview, in praise of Bu, “because with most players, we have history. He’s young. … He’s good, been having good results. Last year in China, he beat some good players. I thought to myself, ‘I need to be ready for his fitness level.’ I think I did that very well, in terms of my service games, and it was a very solid match from my part. I’m very happy with the win.”

Auger-Aliassime was asked to compare himself to the player which reached the semifinals last year in Montpellier. He said: “I think my game is more, let’s say, disciplined – maybe more solid. Last year, there were brilliant shots but also moments I was making mistakes. Now, with two straight-set wins [here], I’m more solid and I’m happy with that because that’s a goal, to move to another level. Hopefully, I go one more step and move into the finals on Sunday.”

De Jong upsets Griekspoor, advances to first ATP Tour semifinal

Unseeded Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands upset No. 5 seed and fellow Dutch player Tallon Griekspoor, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in an hour and 46 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez to reach his first ATP Tour semifinal against Auger-Aliassime.

The 131st-ranked de Jong played brilliant tennis throughout against Griekspoor during their quarterfinal – the first tour-level quarterfinal of de Jong’s young career. By the end of the match, the 23-year-old was dominating all of the important rallies. He finished with eight aces, 30 winners overall and outpointed Griekspoor 77-71.

In a closely-contested match between the Dutch pair, de Jong closed out the 67-minute opening set on his third set-point opportunity against the 46th-ranked Griekspoor. He won it with a backhand volley winner – his 16th winner of the set – after saving all six break points he faced from Griekspoor.

Then, at 4-all in the second set, de Jong gained a crucial break-point advantage at love-40. Although Griekspoor held his ground for the next two points, saving one break point with his 12th ace, de Jong broke to go ahead 5-4. Needing just to hold his serve to win, de Jong did just that. He won his first ATP Tour quarterfinal and it was the third Top-50 win of his career – and second this week after beating No. 34 Flavio Cobolli in the second round on Thursday.

“We know each other well, we’re from the same country,” de Jong said in his on-court interview. “It’s never easy but I was hungry to play the No. 1 from our country. The pressure was on him. I had nothing to lose.”

De Jong became the sixth active Dutch player to reach an ATP Tour semifinal behind Robin Haase (17), Griekspoor (7), Botic van de Zandschulp (6), Gijs Brouwer (1) and Tim Van Rijthoven (1).

Kovacevic takes out defending champion Bublik

On the other side of the draw, American qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic upset two-time champion and No. 4 seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-2, in an hour and 16 minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez Friday evening to advance to his second tour-level semifinal and first since Seoul in 2022.

The 102nd-ranked Kovacevic, who is up to No. 83 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, struck 37 winners to just 13 unforced errors and won 84 percent of his first-serve points. He withstood 12 aces and 26 winners from the 39th-ranked Bublik and saved all eight break points he faced while breaking the defending champ three times in nine opportunities.

Kovacevic will meet World No. 10 and top seed Andrey Rublev of Russia in Saturday’s semifinal round. Rublev advanced over 178th-ranked qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia by retirement after opening a 5-2 lead in just 26 minutes of play. With his second win of the season, the 27-year-old Rublev is through to his 42nd career ATP Tour semifinal and first since reaching the ATP Masters 1000 final in Montreal last August.

“I played many great matches with Niko, he won many of them and I won some of them as well,” Rublev said in his on-court interview after taking a 4-3 career head-to-head lead over Basilashvili. “He’s a really great player and a really nice person. So, I hope that it’s nothing serious and that he will recover for the next week.”

Around the Open Occitanie

Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands advanced to Sunday’s doubles final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over French pair Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Jacq in an hour and four minutes on Court Patrice Dominguez Friday afternoon.

Haase and van de Zandschulp began the week by defeating French wild cards Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 11-9, then upset No. 1 seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in the quarterfinal round. They completed their trifecta of triumphs against French teams with their win over Guinard and Jacq. The Dutch duo combined to hit six aces, won 86 percent of their first-serve points – dropping just five points on their first serve – faced no break points and outpointed their opponents 63-49.

In Sunday’s title match Haase and van de Zandschulp will face either Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Luke Johnson of Great Britain or fellow Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Bart Stevens, who play their semifinal on Saturday.

Friday’s Open Occitanie results

Saturday’s Open Occitanie order of play

By the numbers

Since the start of the 2022 season, Felix Auger-Aliassime has compiled a 51-14 win-loss record indoors. He’s also won five indoor titles – Rotterdam in 2022, Florence in 2022, Antwerp in 2022 and Basel in 2022-23.

“Quotable …”

“I’m very happy with how I played in general The first set was very special; the second set there were a couple games I was focused. I’m happy to finally get the win. [Rinderknech] is a big server and I’m happy to win against him, for sure. … I hope the next match I can play at a good level.” 

– Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, during his on-court interview Thursday after defeating No. 7 seed Arthur Rinderknech of France to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round against World No. 10 and top seed Andrey Rublev.

 

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