BASEL/TORONTO, October 31, 2022 (Tennis Canada Press Release)
On Sunday, Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada claimed his third-straight ATP title and fourth of 2022 after beating Denmark’s Holger Rune 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the ATP 500 Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland. The win marked Auger-Aliassime’s 13th in a row and his second-career ATP 500 title after he captured the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam in February.
Auger-Aliassime entered the Swiss Indoors event as the tournament’s No. 3 seed and began his assault on the title with a 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Switzerland’s Marc-Andrea Huesler followed by a round of 16, 6-1, 6-0 win over Miomir Kecmanović of Serbia. In the quarter-finals, he overcame Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-3 before triumphing against World No. 1 and reigning US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-finals.
Rune, ranked No. 25 on the ATP Tour, came into the tournament with two titles to his name so far in 2022 having won events in Stockholm and Munich. The 19-year-old started his campaign in Basel against No. 7 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia, winning 6-2, 7-5. He then swept aside France’s Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-2 and Arthur Rinderknech 7-6(0), 6-2. In the semi-finals, he upset No. 6 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(1), 7-6(6).
The first set in Sunday’s final saw Auger-Aliassime put on a serving masterclass as the Quebecer won 83% (15/18) of points on his first serve and 83% (5/6) on his second. As has been the case all week in Basel, the Canadian performed exceptionally in disrupting his opponent’s serve and was ruthless in taking advantage of the single break point opportunity he crafted to take the first set 6-3.
Rune caused more problems in the second set, crafting three chances to break the Canadian’s serve, but Auger-Aliassime remained composed and waited for his own opportunity to take a decisive lead. That moment came on Rune’s serve at 5-5 as Auger-Aliassime got the crucial break and served out the match with little fuss.
FAA RISING 📈
The moment @felixtennis captured the #SwissIndoorsBasel title & his 13th consecutive win! pic.twitter.com/shaE8mKife
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 30, 2022
“It’s been an amazing week,” said Auger-Aliassime in his post-match, on-court interview.
“Once again in the final not getting broken. It’s been a long year, a long stretch of wins and it’s not over. Hopefully I can keep going but right now I’m feeling all the good emotions that come with winning a tournament. I don’t usually react that much but it was a really genuine reaction at the end, with the amount of tension in that last game. I’m over the moon right now.”
