(Miami) Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated in the third round of the Miami Tennis Open on Monday, losing 6-2, 7-5 to Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo. But her harrowing day at the office in no way compares to that of fellow Canadian Bianca Andreescu, who appeared to seriously injure her ankle.
Ranked 25th in the world, Cerundolo made a crucial break in the 11th game of the second set to take a 6-5 lead. He achieved this by winning four points in a row after the Montrealer took a 40-15 lead in the game.
The Argentinian took advantage of his chances, breaking Auger-Aliassime four times in six chances.
The Montrealer only got two break chances and capitalized on his first opportunity, in the eighth game of the second set to come back on even serve, at 4-4.
As Cerundolo served for the match, Auger-Aliassime was offered a second break chance, but he failed to exploit it.
Four points later, Cerundolo was able to confirm his victory, on his third match point, when Auger-Aliassime sent a forehand beyond the baseline.
Auger-Aliassime saw his streak of six straight Masters 1000 quarter-finals come to an end.
Moreover, it was the third duel between the two players in their career. They all took place in 2023 and Auger-Aliassime had won the first two, first at the Australian Open in January, then two weeks ago in Indian Wells.
Semi-finalist last year in Miami, Cerundolo said he was fed by the energy of the spectators.
“Super happy to have won another game against a top 10 player, another big win for me,” he said.
“I think I played really well from start to finish. It’s great fun to play here. Many Argentines, people of Latin origin. […] Last year was extraordinary. I’m really excited to be in the round of 16 again and try to keep winning. »
In the next round, Cerundolo will face Italian Lorenzo Sonego who beat 12th-seeded American Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4.
In the evening, Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu had to withdraw from her fourth-round match against 18th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia due to an ankle injury while leading 2-0 in the second set. .
On the footage, Andreescu fell to the ground and started screaming in pain. In a hard-to-watch scene, a distressed Andreescu exclaimed that she had “never felt such pain”. The Canadian, who has overcome injury after injury over the past few years, exclaimed “Not yet”, before hugging her opponent and leaving the field in a wheelchair, surrounded by therapists. Andreescu cast a furtive glance at his family as he left the court, eyes watering.
Andreescu, whose match started 40 minutes later than scheduled and was delayed by rain for about two hours as she led 3-2 in the first set, lost that first set 7-6 in 57 minutes, without score a single point on the break.
In the first set, Andreescu had taken a 2-0 lead thanks to a break in the second game. She lost her advantage in the next game as she let slip a 40-15 lead on her serve.
In women’s doubles, Laval’s Leylah Fernandez and her American partner Taylor Townsend qualified for the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Giuliana Olmos and Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Fernandez and Townsend served six aces and won 64% of first-serve points contested, in a match that lasted one hour 33 minutes.
Fernandez and Townsend will face third-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok on Tuesday.
