Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime faced a disappointing exit from the Shanghai Masters following a 6-3, 6-4 defeat to France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the quarterfinals on Friday. Auger-Aliassime, seeded 12th, showcased his powerful game with eight aces, but his performance was marred by three double faults, all occurring in the opening set. Rinderknech, currently ranked 54th globally, demonstrated dominance by winning 83% of points on his first serve, outperforming Auger-Aliassime who managed 64%. The French player managed to break Auger-Aliassime’s serve once in each set and successfully defended against all three break points faced.
Rinderknech’s victory marked his third consecutive triumph over a top-20 opponent in Shanghai. The match concluded after one hour and 28 minutes of intense play. Meanwhile, in another tennis event in China, Bianca Andreescu from Mississauga, Ontario, and her partner Yue Yuan of China were ousted from the women’s doubles quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open, falling 6-4, 7-6 (1) to Aleksandra Krunic and Anna Danilina.
The upcoming semifinal matchup features Serbia’s Novak Djokovic against Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot. In a separate event, Aryna Sabalenka extended her winning streak at Wuhan to 20 matches by defeating eighth-seeded Elena Rybakina with a score of 6-3, 6-3 in the WTA 1000-level tournament. Sabalenka, the U.S. Open champion, clinched the Wuhan Open title in 2018, ’19, and last year upon her return to the Chinese city.
Sabalenka, ranked at the top, broke Rybakina’s serve three times during the 1-hour, 25-minute match, securing her spot in the semifinals for the 11th time this season. She expressed her gratitude to the crowd by waving and blowing kisses after the match. Sabalenka is set to face sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula in the next round, who recently achieved a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Katerina Siniakova. Pegula is on a winning streak, having triumphed over No. 9 Ekaterina Alexandrova and American Hailey Baptiste in her previous matches.
In the Wuhan Open quarterfinals, the No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek was in action against Jasmine Paolini, while No. 3 Coco Gauff was scheduled to compete against Laura Siegemund.