Felix Auger-Aliassime continues to make big strides on his beloved indoor hard courts and on Friday in Turin the 25-year-old continued his fine form and prolonged his season in the process.
Auger-Aliassime took out Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the last four at the ATP Finals for the first time and set a Saturday clash with Carlos Alcaraz.
“I think this tournament has a very high value for the players,” Auger-Aliassime said. “You compete all year and this is the grand finale. Anybody who wins this tournament, when you see the list of champions, is pretty much world No.1s.
“You want to be in that position, you want to be in the finals, but I’m going to have to go through a great player to do that. Lots of respect for [Alcaraz] but I’m going to take my chances if I have them.”
The Montreal native has become the second Canadian man to reach the semifinals in the history of the ATP Finals, and the first since Milos Raonic in 2016, with his win. He also jumped to a career-high ranking of No.5 in the ATP live rankings as a result of his fourth career win over Zverev, and second in the last four months (also at the US Open, in four sets).
After nine consecutive service holds it would be a slight unravelling by Zverev that led to the swift conclusion of set one. The German, to his credit, fought out of a 0-40 hole in the tenth game, but he dragged his feet on the next point, which would ultimately be his undoing.
“One player was playing to win and one player was playing not to lose,” said Colin Fleming, who was commentating the match for the ATP World Feed courtside.
Auger-Aliassime took the gift of a botched volley by Zverev and converted his fourth set point with a wickedly angled forehand winner that closed the opening stanza in 51 minutes.
“I think it was a great first set,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I thought he was getting a few chances but I was coming up with good serves every time to save them.”
Zverev glared at his box as if to say; what the heck just happened? It was a tough pill to swallow for Zverev, who had previously earned the only two break points of the set and had produced four breezy service holds to start the match, dropping just three points on serve before taking the balls at 4-5.
Auger-Aliassime started menacingly at his box, a look of hard intent in his eyes.
The second set was even tighter than the first, but with the same man emerging.
Five break points went begging – three for Auger-Aliassime, two for Zverev – in a three-game span that left the pair on serve at 3-2, and they stayed that way until the tiebreak.
Again it was Auger-Aliassime who delivered the goods to close out the 75-minute second set with a strong push that takes his record to 20-3 in tiebreaks since the start of August.
“Luckily it was tense for both of us,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I was still able to hold serve, and in the tiebreak it was tight until the end.”
Auger-Aliassime leads the ATP Tour in indoor wins this decade with 84, with seven of his eight ATP titles coming indoors. He is 17-4 indoors overall in 2025.
The semifinals are set for Saturday in Turin, with defending champion Jannik Sinner taking on Alex de Minaur in the other half.
