Storming Auger-Aliassime outplays Tiafoe to reach semi-finals

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime extended his winning streak to 16 matches as he beat American Frances Tiafoe 6-1, 6-4 on Friday to move into the semi-finals of Paris Masters at the Accor Arena.

The eighth seed, who has won three tournaments in the past three weeks (Florence, Antwerp, Basel), needed six match points to get it done but clinched a convincing victory to set up a clash with either world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz or Dane Holger Rune.

“I feel I played a great match,” said Auger-Aliassime, who is through to his first Masters 1000 semi-final since Miami in 2019. “We’ve played a few times, so to come out and play the way I did in the first set was great. Of course I had a few match points at 5-3 but I’m happy that I was able to be clutch in those moments, serving for the match.”

Tiafoe, who reached the semi-finals of the US Open in September, was a little off-colour and Auger-Aliassime proved too strong as he beat the American for the fourth time in four meetings to claim his 56th win of 2022.

The first set flew by as Auger-Aliassime raced ahead and the only trouble he really had was closing out the match.

He needed six match points in all and there was 18 minutes between the first one and the sixth before a good serve and forehand behind Tiafoe sealed the win.

Auger-Aliassime: “I still see things I can improve on”

And despite his obvious confidence, Auger-Aliassime said there was still plenty more to come.

“I still know I heard Novak (Djokovic) yesterday saying he can always improve and he’s won however many Grand Slams, so I can definitely improve in the future. I’m playing good but I still see things I can improve on to be at the top of the game.”

Ahead of his victory, the 22-year-old Canadian edged out Swede qualifier Mikael Ymer (6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (6)) and won against French wildcard Gilles Simon (6-1, 6-3), the last match of Simon’s career.

Tiafoe, ranked No 21, won against Italian qualifier Lorenzo Sonego (6-4, 6-4), Jack Draper (6-3, 7-5) and Australian Alex De Minaur (6-3, 7-6 (5)) in the previous rounds.

Paris Masters 1000, other last eight results (Accor Arena, EUR 5.415.410, most recent results first):

• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Holger Rune : Friday in Paris
• Novak Djokovic vs. Lorenzo Musetti : Friday 7:30 pm CET in Paris
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Tommy Paul : Friday 8:30 pm CET in Paris

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