Top-seeded Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime faced a surprising defeat on Friday at the Libema Open, falling 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in the quarterfinals.
Majchrzak showcased a dominant performance, not facing a single break point while successfully breaking Auger-Aliassime on two out of three opportunities.
Entering the tournament with a career-best ranking of No. 4 in the world, Auger-Aliassime was 72 spots ahead of his Polish opponent, Majchrzak.
The 25-year-old from Montreal secured his top ranking earlier in the ATP 250 grass-court event with a solid second-round victory over Marton Fucsovics on Thursday.
This match marked the first meeting at the ATP Tour level between the two players. Auger-Aliassime had previously triumphed over Majchrzak twice in Challenger events, including a final clash in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2018.
In another development, Auger-Aliassime and fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov withdrew from the men’s doubles draw, granting a walkover to the Dutch duo Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp for a spot in the semifinals.
However, Griekspoor and van de Zandschulp were unable to capitalize, losing their semifinal match 6-3, 7-6 (9) to compatriots David Pel and Sander Arends, who had just played their second match of the day after overcoming Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (5), 4-6, 10-7 in the quarterfinals.
