Felix Auger-Aliassime stunned commentators when he suddenly retired after losing the first set of his quarter-final match at the Swiss Indoors. The Canadian star was on a six-match winning streak after lifting the title at the Brussels Open over the weekend and showed no real signs of discomfort before calling it quits when Jaume Munar took the first set 6-3.
Auger-Aliassime is still in contention to qualify for the ATP Finals. But his mid-match retirement hasn’t helped his chances – Auger-Aliassime now remains at No. 9 in the race, with the eight players who have earned the most ranking points this season making the cut. And some of his rivals will now be able to overtake him if they have deep runs at this week’s ATP 500 events in Basel and Vienna.
Munar played a statement first set, dropping just one point on serve and recording an overall performance rating of 9.1. He served it out to love in 44 minutes and then headed to his bench for the changeover when Auger-Aliassime called it quits.
The Spanish star seemed surprised as the No. 5 seed approached his bench to shake hands, before packing his belongings and leaving the court, waving goodbye to the crowd.
“Oh, where an earth has that come from? Auger-Aliassime has retired,” Adam Fielder said on commentary.
“Well we saw him, very early in the match, kind of stretching out his back but there were no concerns thereafter, and I think that has caught everyone off guard.”
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