Photo : Martin Sidorjak
Félix Auger-Aliassime suffered his first late-round loss of 2025 at the hands of Andrey Rublev on Friday in Doha, bowing out of the Qatar Open semis in three sets. Prior to Doha, the Canadian had won both tournaments he played where he reached at least the third round.
After receiving a walkover in round two and advancing via Daniil Medvedev’s retirement in the quarter-finals, Auger-Aliassime had to ramp up the intensity quickly against the fifth-seeded Rublev. There was little between the two men as they dueled in a high-quality affair, but in the end, Rublev was a bit more clutch when it mattered most, ending the Canadian’s run with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(5) win.
It was a strong serving performance by both men. Auger-Aliassime had 21 aces but Rublev was the more consistent, putting 70 per cent of his first serves in play and winning 84 per cent of those points. Each man only managed to break once. Rublev won just three more points in the two-hour, 46-minute clash.
Early on, the opportunities to score a break were there for Auger-Aliassime. At 1-1, Rublev double-faulted to give the Canadian a break point but he redeemed himself with an ace. In his next service game at 30-all, Rublev lost a lob in the lights and completely missed the ball on his smash attempt to give the Canadian a break point. However, he once again responded well, firing a forehand winner to save it.
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Later in the set, it was Rublev’s turn to start having chances to break. At 4-5, with Auger-Aliassime serving to stay in the set, the fifth seed had four chances to break. The Montrealer saved them all, but he found himself facing a set point on his own serve again at 5-6 and this time missed a forehand well wide to surrender the break and the set.
Auger-Aliassime was unphased by the late break and he quickly flipped the momentum early in the second. At 1-1, he crushed a forehand return to go up love-40 and on the second break point, another big forehand set up a smash winner to secure his first break of the day.
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With the lead, the Canadian locked in on serve. He had to save a break point at 4-3 but that was the only chance Rublev had to get back in the set. When it came time to serve out the set, he closed it out to love.
Both men had chances to break early in the decider but neither converted. Like the first set, Rublev applied some late pressure, holding a match point on Auger-Aliassime’s serve at 5-6, 30-40 but fired a forehand wide at the end of a hard-hitting rally.
In the end, a single miss decided the match in the tiebreak. At 1-1 on his own serve, the Canadian sent a forehand long which proved to be the only minibreak of the breaker. Auger-Aliassime saved two more match points on his own serve but when Rublev finally had one on his own delivery, he finally put the Canadian away.
With the loss, the Canadian falls to 1-6 in his career against Rublev. Auger-Aliassime is expected to compete next week at the ATP 500 event in Dubai.
