Basel (Switzerland) – For the second year in a row, the ATP 500 champion in Basel is Félix Auger-Aliassime. The 23-year-old Canadian, currently 19th in the rankings, defended his Swiss tournament title on hard and indoor courts. Aliassime beat the Pole Hubert Hurkacz, 11th, by 7/6 (7-3) and 7/6 (7-5) in 1h52 of match in this Sunday’s final.

This is the fifth ATP title of Aliassime’s career and the first just a year after his last victory in Basel. The Canadian’s three other achievements also date back to last season, on the indoor courts of Rotterdam, Florence and Antwerp. His best campaign of the current season was the semi-final in Doha earlier this year, and the semi-final victory against Holger Rue was his first against the top 10 in 2024.

Aliassime joins other double champions in the history of the traditional Basel tournament, such as Ivan Lendl, Yannick Noah, Jim Courier, Tim Henman and Juan Martín del Potro. The defending champion is ten-time champion Roger Federer.

Great in Basel 🏆@félixtennis defends Swiss Indoors title with 7-6 7-6 win over Hurkacz 😮‍💨#SwissIndoorsTennis pic.twitter.com/HYLGY5wmtN

– Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 29, 2023

Finalist Hubert Hurkacz lost the chance to enter the top 8 in the race for a place in the ATP Finals. The 26-year-old Pole and winner of seven ATP titles won the Masters 1000 in Shanghai two weeks ago. In search of places in the Final, five players are already classified (Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev). The last places at the moment would be Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Holger Rune.

Another concern for the tennis player was an apparent physical limitation in his movements from the second set onwards. However, he continued until the end of the match and remained competitive. Next week, he will participate in the Masters 1000 in Paris and will make his debut against the American Sebastian Korda.

But this touch ✨@HubertHurkacz showcasing his talent 👏#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/CLTmlYo10A

– Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 29, 2023

The Basel final went without any breaks, with Aliassime facing no break points and having five break chances. The Canadian led the winning count 37-28 and made 14 errors to Hurkacz’s 17. In aces, the now double champion scored 13 against 12 for his Polish rival.

The first set featured only one break point and Aliassime held his serve during the tie-break, in addition to winning two points on the returns. In the second half, Hurkacz reversed 15-40 situations at 4/4 and 5/5, but did not avoid defeat in a new tie-break, after a winning return from the Canadian on his only match point.