Auger-Aliassime: 'Wins over Dimitrov and Kyrgios in one day give me..'
The 8th seed and the youngest player in the draw Felix Auger-Aliassime had to work hard at Queen's on Thursday, with the first and the second round matches alive and kickin' after the rain that caused problems on Tuesday and Wednesday in London. Competing in two encounters on a single day is never easy but Felix did that nicely, toppling Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4 before a hard-fought 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 triumph over Nick Kyrgios for the place in the quarters. Queen's is only the second ATP event on grass for the super talented youngster and he is already comfortable on the fastest surface, reaching the final in Stuttgart last week and carrying that form to London as well.
Auger-Aliassime stayed on the court for three and a half hours but that wasn't the problem at all, facing only two break points and never getting broken! Saving energy for today's clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Felix said he managed to maintain the power after a tough day at the office and this would only help him at Wimbledon where he has to play the best-of-five sets matches, preparing himself for a debut at the All England Club in ten days.
"I feel good, I'm pretty lucky to be all good physically. I finished the first match of the day in straight sets and managed to hang in against Nick, there are a lot of positive things and it is nice to know I have been able to pass this physical test ahead of best-of-five matches at Wimbledon. It is also good for the confidence. As was expected, it was very tough against Nick, he serves unbelievably and it wasn't easy to stay focused in such a long match with no rhythm sometimes. I was missing some shots that I normally would not have missed, that's what Nick does to you.
To win big tournaments, you have to defeat a different kind of players and that what happened today, competing for the first time against both Nick and Grigor. I have been serving well on grass, staying unbroken in five sets today, that's always a positive note. I have built a good serve over the last couple of months on every surface and it has been paying off these last two weeks on grass. I was scared a little bit before grass but the transition went nicely and I could not have asked for a better one."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2XnI48h
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