Auger-Aliassime retires against Munar in Basel, dents Turin hopes, Fonseca reaches SFs
Felix Auger-Aliassime’s Nitto ATP Finals hopes suffered a setback on Friday at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where he was forced to retire against Jaume Munar after losing the first set.
The Canadian was trailing 3-6 when he walked to the net and ended proceedings after 45 minutes of his quarter-final match at the ATP 500.
Auger-Aliassime lifted the trophy in Brussels last week to move to ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The 25-year-old, who married Nina Ghaibi last month, is 340 points behind eighth-placed Lorenzo Musetti, who occupies the final qualification spot. Musetti is in quarter-final action against Cornetin Moutet in Vienna later on Friday.
Auger-Aliassime is hoping to make his second appearance at the prestigious year-end event, having competed in 2022. He holds a 43-21 record on the year, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index and is scheduled to compete at the Rolex Paris Masters next week.
Joao Fonseca followed Auger-Aliassime and Munar onto court and overcame Denis Shapovalov, who also retired. Fonseca led the Canadian 3-6, 6-3, 4-1 when Shapovalov approached the Brazilian to shake hands.
Fonseca is into his second tour-level semi-final of the year and first at ATP 500 level. The 19-year-old won his maiden tour-level crown in Buenos Aires earlier this year and is now 23-15 on the season. Fonseca is the second-youngest semi-finalist this century and will play Munar on Saturday.
Ugo Humbert continued his impressive week with a 7-6(0), 6-4 win against American Reilly Opelka.
The 27-year-old Frenchman has won a Tour-leading 22 matches indoors since the start of 2024, a tally that includes two title runs in Marseille. He also reached championship matches in Paris last November and Stockholm last week.
Humbert will next play eighth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. After the Spaniard took the opening set off Casper Ruud 7-6(1), the fourth-seeded Norwegian retired due to an ankle injury, sending Davidovich Fokina to his sixth semi-final of the season. Ruud was on a six-match winning streak, including a title run at last week’s ATP 250 in Stockholm.
Watch Extended Highlights from Friday in Basel: