Cazaux after losing to Auger-Aliassime: "He was better than me".
Arthur Cazaux will get no further than the second round in Montpellier.
After his opening victory over Stan Wawrinka, the Frenchman was eliminated, as he was last year at the same stage of the competition, by Felix Auger-Aliassime, who beat him for the third time in three meetings (6-4, 7-6).
After the match, Cazaux was lucid about the way the match had gone, but also expressed his regrets.
"We have to congratulate Félix, who played a very good match, especially at the start. I didn't play a bad match, but I can blame myself when I lead 5-2 in the tie-break.
It's a bit of a malpractice to take five points in a row. I can blame myself for that. But overall, he was better than me.
It shows what aspects of my game I need to improve. I'm not yet good enough to beat these guys, especially when they're playing well," he asserts.
"When I found myself down by a set and a break, I managed to put in more intensity. There were some good things, I didn't have a bad match.
But tennis is about details, especially in matches like that. I've got to be better to get past this stage. I'm angry about the 5-2 point in the tie-break.
I've got a forehand over the shoulder to play and I miss it.
I'm allowed to miss, but this time it's because I'm hesitating and not really going for it. I blame myself because I'm leading, I'm serving, and if I'm going to miss, I might as well go for it.
Instead, I make a bad mistake. On the match point, I didn't put in enough and I was punished straight away," analyzed Cazaux for L'Équipe.
