Felix Auger Aliassime is through to the third round of the Paris Masters after battling back to beat Sweden’s Mikael Ymer 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in a marathon three hours and 30 minutes on court one.
The Canadian hit 38 winners, fired 11 aces and won 71% of his first serve points in what was the longest match to ever take place at the event. Auger-Aliassime looked to be on the verge of a early exit after falling behind 6-7, 1-4, before an epic fight back secured him his 14th win in a row. He is currently experiancing the best-ever winning streak of his career.
“[I’m pretty tired], but it’s not the time to complain and whine,” said Auger-Aliassime who has won three titles in a row. “I decided to play these events, I won three of them, so I can’t complain. It’s fantastic.
“Here, I’m just trying to give my best. Let’s go and see day-by-day how I feel. Definitely today was a tough one, not only just the game but the way he was playing as well, he was making me work a lot. That added extra toughness to the match.”
The first set stayed on serve until 6-6 and needed to be decided by a tiebreaker. It was the Swede with the early advantage, catching the world number nine off guard and taking the breaker 8-6.
Riding the momentum of winning the first set, Ymer got an early break in the second and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Making it look like that Auger-Aliassime’s streak would end.
However, that moment was when the Canadian turned the match around by breaking back and winning five games in a row to steal the second set and force a deciding third set.
The decider featured a back-and-forth tussle between two young guns going at it, to the thrill of a packed small intimate crowd on court one who seemed split on who to support.
Auger-Aliassime got the early break but Ymer broke right back. Then the Canadian break right once again and three games featured breaks of serve.
Heading into a second tiebreaker and sensing he was at the finish line, Auger-Aliassime was able to pull off the win to extend his winning streak.
The win keeps the Canadian in contention to qualify for the ATP Finals next week in Turin, Italy.