It’s not all over, but it still smells like the stable. Rafael Nadal conceded his fourth loss in a row, and more precisely his second loss in two games of the Turin Masters, this Tuesday. After the American Taylor Fritz on Sunday, it was the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime who dictated his law to the Spaniard, again in two sets (6-3, 6-4).
The world number 2 can still hope to reach the semi-finals, but for that he will need a combination of favorable circumstances including a victory Thursday against the Norwegian Casper Ruud (4th). If Ruud wins at least one set against Fritz this Tuesday evening, Nadal (36) will be eliminated and will allow his young compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, absent through injury in Turin, to remain world number 1.
First success for Auger-Aliassime against Nadal
Against Auger-Aliassime, the player with 22 Grand Slam titles failed to win any of his five break points. And he only saved two of the four conceded to his opponent. The 22-year-old Canadian had lost his first two face-to-face against the legend of Roland-Garros, where he had however managed to push him to the fifth set in the spring, in the round of 16.
After his failure against Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16 of the US Open, then before Tommy Paul in the first round of the Paris-Bercy Masters 1,000, Nadal recorded his third and fourth defeats in a row in Turin. The Majorcan, who became a dad for the first time in early October, had not experienced such a bad series since November 2009.