Felix Auger Aliassime secures consecutive Win at Swiss Indoor Basel

The Canadian becomes first man since Roger Federer to win back-to-back titles at the ATP 500 event.

Defending champion Felix Auger Aliassime defeated Shanghai Masters winner Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets on Sunday at the Basel 2023 final. The final scoreline read 7-6(3), 7-6(5) and announced Felix Auger-Aliassime as the winner of the 2023 Swiss Indoor Basel tennis tournament. Auger Aliassime, who is Canadian, is the first man since Roger Federer to win two back-to-back titles at the ATP 500 event. 

The now-retired Federer had stamped his authority at Basel and made the venue his own. The Swiss maestro won the title an astounding 10 times between 2006 and 2019.

Hubert Hurkacz booked his place in the Swiss Indoors Basel Final by defeating Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) on Saturday. On the same day, the Montreal native brushed aside the challenge from Holger Rune to win 6-3, 6-2 in straight sets. The semifinal match between Auger-Aliassime and Rune was reminiscent of last year’s final between the pair which ended with a similar result. 

The match was evenly poised in the first set as both players were holding serve at 5-5. A tiebreak to resolve the deadlock went in favour of the Canadian. The 19th-ranked Aliassime wrapped up the first set 7-6(3) in 68 minutes. 

The next set and the match, too, hinged on a tiebreak. The defending champion took the lead to make it 6-5 and broke Hurkacz to win the second set tiebreak 7-5 and the match in one hour, 53 minutes. Despite the big-serving Polish player sending down 60 aces, it was not enough to help him over the finish line. Hurkacz was also at the receiving end of 44 winners and only managed 28 of his own.

Before the summit clash, Felix Auger Aliassime was leading 2-1 in their head-to-head meetings. That lead has now been extended to 3-1.

The loss at Basel has complicated the Polish World No. 11’s attempt to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. There is plenty of competition for the final three spots, with the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Holger Rune ahead of him. Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud are hot on  Hurkacz’s heels, too.  He will need to make a deep run at the upcoming Rolex Paris Masters that begins on Monday to have a fighting chance of making it to Turin.