Félix Auger Aliassime hits a ball into the crowd after winning his quarter-final match against Daniil Medvedev at the Qatar Open, in Doha, Qatar, on Feb. 20.Ibraheem Al Omari/Reuters
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the semi-finals of the Qatar Open tennis tournament after Russia’s Daniil Medvedev retired from their quarter-final with an illness.
Auger-Aliassime won the first set of Thursday’s match 6-3 before Medvedev, who was seeded fourth at the ATP 500 tournament, left the court.
The 24-year-old Canadian won 89 per cent of his service points and had four aces in a dominant first set on which he didn’t face break point.
Auger-Ailassime went up 4-3 in the set with a break, and won on return again in the deciding game.
“I felt he was playing normal, but I don’t know. I don’t know how he feels,” Auger-Aliassime said in his on-court interview. “But on my part, it felt very normal. And then I broke, I held my serve. And he just told [chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani] that he didn’t want to shake our hands because he was sick.
“I hope it’s nothing too bad. But of course, I was surprised.”
Medvedev said in a statement that he withdrew owing to food poisoning.
“Very disappointed to end my run here in Doha like this as I feel like I was playing well,” he said.
Auger-Aliassime advanced to a semi-final Friday against Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev despite winning just one complete match in Doha.
He survived a tough first-round match against French qualifier Quentin Halys, then advanced to the quarter-finals when second-round opponent Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia withdrew with a leg injury he sustained in a first-round upset of sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“It’s a weird week so far because normally you win three matches to get to this part,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I got through the first round, different conditions than the past weeks. And then after that, I played a set only when I should have won at least four. I don’t know what to say, it’s weird.”
Auger-Aliassime had a similar path to the final of last year’s Madrid Open, where he advanced with two mid-match retirements and a walkover before losing to Rublev in the championship match.
Auger-Aliassime improved to 2-7 against Medvedev and will also be in tough against Rublev, who holds a 5-1 advantage in their head-to-head series.
Auger-Aliassime, who came into the tournament ranked 23rd in the world, is seeking his eighth ATP title and third this year.
Rublev advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8) win over second seed Alex de Minaur of Australia.