Auger-Aliassime Retires Hurt Against Ruud

Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada retired hurt from his fourth-round match at the Rolex Shanghai Masters on Wednesday, 14 October, stopping with a knee injury while trailing Casper Ruud of Norway 5⁠–⁠2 in the first set (ATP Tour; Tennishead). To retire hurt means to stop playing because of injury; the opponent goes through.

The match lasted 35 minutes, according to the ATP's results page (ATP Tour). Auger-Aliassime was the No. 4 seed, one of the players the organisers rank among the favourites in the draw. Ruud is the No. 20 seed (ATP Tour).

Shanghai is one of the men's tour's Masters 1000 tournaments, the level just below the four Grand Slam events (ATP Tour).

Ruud said the trouble appeared to start early. "It seemed to me that he maybe twisted his knee in the fourth game of the match," he said. "From that moment, it seemed like he was in a lot of pain" (Tennishead).

Auger-Aliassime had needed three sets in each of his first two matches in Shanghai. He beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli 4⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠6(1), 7⁠–⁠5 in the second round and Pablo Carreño Busta 6⁠–⁠3, 4⁠–⁠6, 6⁠–⁠1 in the third (ATP Tour).

The injury comes at a difficult point in his season. Tennishead reported that Auger-Aliassime, 26, is 15th in the race for the ATP Finals in Turin, the season-ending event for the year's best eight players (Tennishead). Tournaments in Brussels, Basel and Paris are still to come, giving him limited chances to climb, if he is fit to play (Tennishead).

For Ruud, the win was a milestone. He has now reached the quarter-finals at all nine Masters 1000 events (Tennishead). In Shanghai he beat Yunchaokete Bu 6⁠–⁠1, 7⁠–⁠6(2) and Learner Tien, the No. 14 seed, 6⁠–⁠4, 7⁠–⁠6(3) before Wednesday's match (ATP Tour).

His quarter-final opponent is Rafael Jodar of Spain, the No. 12 seed. Jodar beat Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6⁠–⁠7(4), 6⁠–⁠4, 6⁠–⁠2 on Wednesday, coming from a set down for the third match in a row (ATP Tour; Rolex Shanghai Masters). He had also lost the first set before beating Thiago Agustín Tirante and Jiří Lehečka (ATP Tour).

Van de Zandschulp had beaten Arthur Fils, the No. 8 seed, 7⁠–⁠5, 6⁠–⁠4 in the third round (ATP Tour).

Ruud and Jodar meet on Friday (ESPN). The winner reaches the semi-finals of a tournament that has already lost Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 2 seed, who was beaten by Zizou Bergs on Monday, and now Auger-Aliassime (ATP Tour).

Four men reached the quarter-finals on Tuesday: Alexander Zverev, the No. 1 seed, beat Alexander Bublik 7⁠–⁠6(6), 4⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠6(1); Alex de Minaur beat Karen Khachanov 6⁠–⁠3, 6⁠–⁠4; Arthur Gea beat Jakub Menšík 7⁠–⁠6(4), 6⁠–⁠4; and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Hubert Hurkacz 1⁠–⁠6, 6⁠–⁠3, 7⁠–⁠6(6) (ATP Tour). Two fourth-round matches remained on Wednesday's schedule after Ruud's win: Daniil Medvedev against Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Tommy Paul against Bergs (ATP Tour). Medvedev, the No. 5 seed, reached that match by beating Dalibor Svrčina 6⁠–⁠2, 6⁠–⁠3; Tsitsipas beat Taylor Fritz, the No. 11 seed, 3⁠–⁠6, 7⁠–⁠5, 6⁠–⁠3 (ATP Tour).