Melbourne, Australia) – After losing the first three clashes with Marin Cilic, the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime finally managed to beat the 33-year-old Croatian. This Monday, he took advantage of the best moment and confirmed his condition as the number 9 seed with a sweaty comeback, closing the match with partials of 2/6, 7/6 (9-7), 6/2 and 7/6 (7-4), in 2h139 of confrontation.

This is the first time that Aliassime will play in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, becoming the fourth Canadian to achieve this feat, after Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic and Michael Belkin. His next opponent in the tournament will be the Russian Daniil Medvedev, who had work and needed four sets to defeat US Maxime Cressy’s serve and volley.

Aliassime and Medvedev have faced each other three times and the Russian got the better of them all, including the most recent duel a few weeks ago in the ATP Cup semi-finals. The Canadian’s other two losses came at the US Open (2021) and the Toronto Masters 1000 (2018).

By joining compatriot Shapovalov in the quarter-finals, Aliassime bonds with him as one of the Canadians who has reached the Grand Slam quarter-finals more times, both with three with Robert Powell. The country’s record holder is Milos Raonic with 10. Michael Belkin and Vasek Pospisil complete the list with one each.

The duel with Cilic was tough and started with the inspired Croatian taking the opening set with authority. From the second game, things were balanced and the best moment of the Canadian won, who after suffering two breaks in the initial set, did not give up a single break point to his rival.

In the next three sets won by Aliassime, two were in the tie-break, the second and the fourth, and the third was the only more peaceful one, with two breaks of advantage. The Canadian finished the game with 22 aces against 24 for Cilic and a better service (75% against 67%). He lost the battle of the winners (38 to 61), but caught up with unforced errors (31 to 60).