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Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the ATP Finals semi-finals for the first time in his career by beating Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Friday.
The 25-year-old from Montreal improved to 2-1 in the round-robin and finished second in Bjorn Borg's group and will face world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain on Saturday in the semifinals of the elite season-ending tournament.
Auger-Aliassime, seeded eighth in Turin, made the only break of the match in the final game of the first set.
Zverev failed to convert any of his four break points and made 18 of 27 unforced errors in the second set, during which he repeatedly gestured towards his team in apparent frustration.
In the tiebreaker, he easily hit the ball into the net and gave Auger-Aliassime two match points. The Canadian only needed one punch as Zverev landed a long forehand.
“It was a great first set. He had a few chances but I came up with big serves to save them,” said Auger-Aliassime, who moved up three places to No. 5 in the ATP Live rankings. “The first set was very solid and the start of the second set too. I had many moments.
“When that happens, you have to focus on the present, but you realize the missed opportunities, so from that point on the match became a little tense. But I was able to hold serve, and in the tiebreaker the game was tense until the end.”
Auger-Aliassime improved to 4-6 against Zverev. He won both meetings this year, including a third-round victory at the US Open.
Zverev, a two-time ATP Finals champion, dropped to 1-2 and failed to advance from the group along with American Ben Shelton (0-3).
The sinner remains undefeated
Defending champion and world number two Jannik Sinner of Italy won his matches to move to the top of the group and will face number seven Alex de Minaur of Australia in the other semi-final. In Friday's other match, Sinner defeated Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Auger-Aliassime is 3-4 against Alcaraz, with the Spanish star winning their last four meetings.
“This is a very valuable tournament for the players,” Auger-Aliassime said when asked about the meeting with Alcaraz. “It's like a grand final and when you look at the list of champions there were a lot of first place finishes. You want to get to the finals, but for that I will have to find a great player. I'll take my chance if I have it.”
Alcaraz led Jimmy Connors' group by winning his matches and ending the season at No. 1 in the ATP Tour rankings.
Auger-Aliassime will compete at the ATP Finals for the second time. He upset Spanish legend Rafael Nadal in 2022, but lost his other two matches and did not qualify from his group.
He found himself in a difficult situation at the start of this tournament after a furious late-season attempt to qualify. He appears to have injured his leg in his first loss to Sinner, 7-5, 6-1.
However, Auger-Aliassime quickly bounced back from a set down to beat Shelton 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 to advance.
