Tennis: Auger-Aliassime beats Hurkacz and retains his title in Basel

Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime returned to success by retaining his title on Sunday at the ATP 500 tournament in Basel, Switzerland, thanks to his victory in straight sets against Pole Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5). After winning a year ago against Holger Rune in the final of the Basel tournament, Auger-Aliassime, seeded N.6, repeated this performance in 1h52 against Hurkacz, seeded N.4.

The 19th in the world, who won his fifth title there, had not won a tournament since his success in Switzerland in October 2022. After a great year 2022, where he won his first four trophies during ATP circuit tournaments, the Canadian experienced great difficulties in 2023, falling to 19th place in the world at the beginning of October, although it had reached 6th less than a year earlier.

Worse, the semi-finalist of the US Open in 2021 failed to pass the second round during 12 consecutive tournaments before that of Tokyo in mid-October, eliminated as soon as he entered the running at Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. “There are a lot of ups and downs in a career, in a year, and this is undoubtedly the most special week of my career,” he savored after his victory. Faced with Hurkacz, who was fighting in Basel to get closer to the Top 8 for the Masters, Auger-Aliassime was able to show himself solid, each time making the difference during the decisive games. Both men held their serve throughout the match, but at the end of the first set, the Canadian stepped up to 3-3 in the tie-break to win four points in a row and take the lead. At the end of the second set, he again relied on a good first ball (68%) to win the second set and win the match.