Felix Auger Aliassime booked his spot in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after beating the number 27 seed Marin Cilic 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 in three hours and 35 minutes.
The Canadian battled on court for more than three-and-a-half hours as he produced a total of 37 winners and 22 aces. Meanwhile, Cilic leaked a costly 60 unforced errors. It is the first time the 21-year-old has reached the last eight at Melbourne Park and also the first time he has beaten his Croatian oponent on the Tour after suffering three losses to him.
“It’s amazing. It puts my belief even higher, I lost three times to Marin in the past, this is my first win against him and in an important moment like this,” said Auger-Aliassime.
“I told him at the end of the match he’s a champion, the way he handles himself and the way he plays and I knew he was going to come out with his best level and test me and make me earn my win.
“So I’m really relieved and happy to get through, especially the way I did it.”
To begin with Cilic got off to a better start in the match by getting the early break to take a 2-1 lead. He then turned his lead into a double break before serving out the first set.
The second set was a much tighter affair with the Canadian getting more chances to break but being unable to convert which paved way for a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was even closer and at 8-7, it was the world number nine with a huge forehand winner to seal the set and even the match at one set apiece.
Three games into the third set the Montreal native had six chances to break before he was finally able to convert and take a 2-1 lead. At 4-2, he managed to go up a double break which was enough of a margin for him to restore his lead in the match to two sets to one.
The fourth set was yet again a battle of the two big servers who were doing a good job of holding serve and again the set was decided by a crucial tiebreaker.
Auger-Aliassime jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the breaker and that quick start was enough for him to serve out the match and reach his first-ever quarterfinal down under.
The ninth seed will face world number two Danil Medvedev in the quarterfinals on Wednesday after the Russian beat the American Maxime Cressy in four sets.
Auger-Aliassime is the second Canadian man through to the quarter-finals after Denis Shapovalov. It is the first time in history two players from the country have reached the last eight of the Australian Open during the same year.
