Auger-Alassime Continues to Dominate Indoor Hard Courts in Rotterdam; De Minaur Takes out Wawrinka

Felix Auger-Aliassime continues to feel right at home on indoor hard courts, even far away from his native Montreal.

The 2022 champion and World No. 6, who leads all players in indoor wins this decade (91), stretched his winning streak to six and reached his fourth career Rotterdam quarterfinal (2020, 2022–23, 2026) with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic.

The 25-year-old, who successfully defended his title at Montpellier last week, won 36 of 60 baseline points and captured seven of nine points at the net as he improved to 7-2 on the season. He will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor next.

Auger-Aliassime has been broken only once during his six-match winning streak, and he saved the only break point he faced against Medjedovic on Thursday.

“He hits huge,” Auger-Aliassime said of the Serbian. “All in all, it was a great performance to get out of this match in straight sets—I felt like he was the better player at times in the second set.”

Auger-Aliassime managed a break in each set, including one at 4-4 in the second where he rallied from 40-0 down to break for 5-4. He won nine of the final 11 points to put the match to bed in 90 minutes.

Elsewhere on a busy Thursday in Rotterdam, top-seeded Alex de Minaur pushed past 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-2, while Botic van de Zandschulp topped Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 7-6(4).

Former champion Wawrinka played his last match in Rotterdam.

“He’s a legend; he’s an icon,” De Minaur said. “What he has been able to achieve on the court in the Big 3/Big 4 era was nothing short of incredible. To be able to hit these guys off the court the way he did was truly magical to watch as a fan of the sport.

“Not only is he a legend on the court, he’s also a legend off the court. I’ve had countless training sessions with him when I was younger and he treated me with nothing but the most respect—he’s an incredible human being.”

With the win, De Minaur joins Roger Federer as the second player to reach five consecutive quarterfinals in Rotterdam.

Van de Zandschulp and De Minaur will meet in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Jaume Munar battled past fifth-seeded Karen Khachanov, 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-3.