Felix Auger-Aliassime is into uncharted territory at the All England Club.

The No.16 seed booked his maiden Wimbledon fourth round spot 2-6, 6-1 against Nick Kyrgios when the box office Australian was forced to retire with an abdominal injury.

Auger-Aliassime joins his compatriot and Andy Murray’s conqueror, Denis Shapovalov, in the last 16, the first time multiple Canadian men have reached this stage at Wimbledon in the Open era. He now faces No.4 seed Alexander Zverev.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic might be the heavy favourite for the title, but the 20-year-old is gaining the confidence to disrupt the established order.

"I'm going to try my best. You've got to start believing in your chances,” said the world No.19.

“I'll have a tough match next round against Zverev. Will try and get through that one and make my best result in a Slam and we'll see where I can go from there. For sure you've got to believe in yourself and keep pushing.”

"Sorry for Nick, he was playing so good in the first set. It's really unfortunate in front of a packed crowd,” he continued. "I think there were big expectations for this match, we were hoping to put on a good show. I hope it's not too serious and he's back on the US swing.”

Kyrgios has appeared relaxed at The Championships this year, playing some scorching tennis up to this point. The Australian was so laid back on Saturday that he forgot his grass court trainers. Luckily a club official had a pair sent from the locker room and play could commence.

After a thrilling tussle at Queen’s Club in 2019 (which Auger-Aliassime edged 7-5 in the decider), this match was billed as one of the clashes of this round and Kyrgios certainly put on a show in the first set.

Kyrgios’ first service game showed why he is so popular with his legion of fans. A drop shot dinked over, a winner off each groundstroke wing, an underarm serve and an ace. The crowd was already in raptures.

The 2014 quarter-finalist broke to love for 2-1 with some booming returns and encouraged the fans to get involved, yelping “allez” after the next rapid hold.

Auger-Aliassime broke back for 4-2 with some canny volleys, but couldn’t contain the Kyrgios firepower for a sustained period. The Australian, playing just his ninth singles match of 2021, sent a sensational backhand winner down the line as the catalyst to closing out the opener.

However, something was up and the trainer's arrival on court confirmed the 26-year-old was struggling physically.

Auger-Aliassime cut out the errors and started to step it up in what became a very lop-sided second set, with Kyrgios grimacing between every shot, and at 1-1 he announced that he couldn't continue.

"Sorry guys, it's the end of the road," he called out to the crowd, before shaking hands with the Canadian Next Gen prodigy.

"I haven't played this level of tennis in a long time. Playing someone as good as Felix, I needed my main weapon, my serve, to be firing on all cylinders. I felt my ab, definitely did something to it at the end of the first set,” Kyrgios said.

"That's just the way it goes. He's a hell of a player and he's going to do some special things in this sport. You'll see a lot of him in the future and he's better looking too!”

But he assured his fans that he has been inspired by his visit to the All England Club this year.

"I did all I could, beat a heck of a player in the first round, played a great second round and I'm sorry I couldn't give you more today,” added the world No.60.

"In a way he was a bit lucky because I felt today I was playing unbelievable. I came out of the blocks, I was returning lights out. I was actually finding my stride. I've never felt more comfortable on the grass honestly. I felt like he was really struggling with the way I was playing, I was making a lot of returns. I was hot.

"I was devastated, obviously. I'm enjoying myself. Going from the bad boy of tennis, all this stuff, to now one of the crowd favourites. I knew they wanted me to keep playing. I tried to give everything I absolutely could.

"Playing out here, getting this support, has kind of made me have a second wind. I'm going to come back and play for a bit longer I reckon.”

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