Felix fends off Thiem comeback in AO thriller

Could pulling through a marathon first round in Melbourne be the confidence boost Felix Auger-Aliassime needs to kick-start his 2024 season?

The Canadian held off a fierce Dominic Thiem comeback on Monday night to register a 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(5), 5-7, 6-3 victory in an Australian Open clash between two players who were searching for their first tour-level win of the year. At one stage just two points from a straight-sets triumph, the 27th-seeded Auger-Aliassime was forced to dig deep to grind out a four-hour, 59-minute win.

“[There’s] a lot of relief,” said Auger-Aliassime, who had led 5/2 in the third-set tie-break before Thiem engineered a dramatic turnaround. “It’s crazy, in these matches you go through really all the emotions. It was a great level, a great match, and I started well. Then this is sport, sometimes it sucks. You’re trying your best, and he also played well, and it was a struggle for me.

“At the end, I didn’t want to fail mentally. I didn’t want to disappoint myself with my effort or have any regrets when leaving this court today. It was frustrating, the way it went in that third set. I thought, ‘You need to be tough, you need to stay strong’, and I’m happy I did because now I’m really happy.”

Never forget ⚔️

In a battle lasting almost five hours, @felixtennis finds a way against Dominic Thiem.@AustralianOpen | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/eVLjNaxNvZ

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 15, 2024

Thiem outhit Auger-Aliassime by 57 winners to 54 but was ultimately undone by the 66 unforced errors he made, compared to his opponent’s 54. With his victory, Auger-Aliassime drew level with the Austrian at 1-1 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Their only previous clash also came at a Grand Slam — Thiem notched a straight-sets fourth-round triumph en route to the title at the 2020 US Open.

“In all honestly, [I wasn’t thinking] a lot of good things,” said Auger-Aliassime, when asked about his mindset after losing the third set. “We’re good actors I guess. We try to be good actors when we are on the court, try to stay calm when we are facing an opponent, show a strong demeanour and strong body language.

“Leaving the court after the third set, I had to regroup. It was tough. I was seeing myself winning that third set. I played a great tie-break, it was 5/2. Then just two poor points in a row and the match turns around just like that. But that’s tennis.”

The No. 30 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Auger-Aliassime ended a difficult 2023 in promising fashion and lifted his fifth ATP Tour title in October in Basel, but he opened this season with a straight-sets defeat to Daniel Altmaier in Auckland. Having now edged Thiem in the longest match of his career shortly after 1:30 a.m. in Melbourne, Auger-Aliassime will prepare for a second-round clash against qualifier Hugo Grenier, who beat Alexandre Muller 2-6, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7).