Felix Auger-Aliassime follows Nadal, Hewitt and Chang after big run in 2019
An 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime has been one of the players to beat so far in 2019, scoring 26 wins (the seventh-best player on the Tour) and entering three ATP finals. Still seeking that first ATP title that should come quickly, Felix has shown amazing skills on all three surfaces this year ahead of Wimbledon, forging himself into one of the players to watch in the next 15 years or so. After a slower start of the season, Auger-Aliassime picked up the form in February and never looked back, advancing into five ATP semi-finals on all three surfaces, still before the 19th birthday. In Rio de Janeiro, super talented youngster went all the way to reach the title match as one of the youngest players on the ATP 500 series, losing to Laslo Djere but building the momentum that had carried him towards the semi-final in Miami as a qualifier.
Felix had a great chance to beat John Isner, suffering a tight 7-6, 7-6 loss although he became the third-youngest Masters 1000 semi-finalist after his compatriot Denis Shapovalov and Michael Chang. Just before Roland Garros, the Canadian was in another ATP final in Lyon where he claimed two Challenger titles in the previous years, suffering an injury and skipping Roland Garros where he was supposed to be the seeded player on debut in Paris. Never playing a professional match on grass before Stuttgart, Auger-Aliassime delivered instant magic on the fastest surface, scoring three wins to enter another final that he lost in straight sets to Matteo Berrettini, missing his chances in the second set tie break. Like that wasn't enough, Felix made a perfect debut at Queen's, advancing into the last four where the eventual champion Feliciano Lopez halted him in three sets, missing the opportunity to play in back-to-back ATP finals on grass at such a young age.
Queen's was Auger-Aliassime's fifth ATP semi-final of the season and a career in general, becoming the sixth-youngest player since the start of the ATP Tour in 1990 who achieved that after the names like Lleyton Hewitt, Andrei Medvedev, Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang and Goran Ivanisevic, also the youngest since Rafael Nadal in 2005. The competitors we just mentioned are among the best teenagers in the Open era and Felix has entered an exclusive list just three and a half months after the first semi-final, looking stronger and stronger and heading to Wimbledon as the 19th seed, hoping to crack the top-20 with a similar performance from Stuttgart and Queen's.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2ZSRvtM
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