Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the final of the Paris Masters tennis tournament with a narrow victory over Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Montreal's Auger-Aliassime earned a 7-6 (3), 6-4 semifinal win over 13th-seeded Bublik.
The Canadian will face Italian Jannik Sinner in Sunday's final. Sinner crushed Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-0, 6-1 in Saturday's semi-final to move closer to reclaiming the world No. 1 ranking.
Auger-Aliassime and Sinner are 2-2 head-to-head, with Sinner winning their last two matches, including the semi-finals of this year's US Open.
With his semi-final victory, Auger-Aliassime overtook Italy's Lorenzo Musetti to secure the eighth and final qualifying spot for the ATP Finals, which will be held next month in Turin, Italy.
Regardless of Sunday's result, Auger-Aliassime will lead Musetti by 90 points at next week's Moselle Open in Metz, France. Musetti plays next week in Athens.
Auger-Aliassime won titles this year in Adelaide, Montpellier And Brussels. The 25-year-old is trying to win his ninth career title and first at the Masters level.
The ninth seed in Paris ousted Bublik in 96 minutes on Saturday.
“The Masters 1000 final sounds really good,” Auger-Aliassime said at La Defense Arena. “You don't play finals every week. I hope I can make it to the end and get the title.”
Auger-Aliassime bounced back from 4-1 down in the second set on Saturday. He hit 31 match winners, including 17 forehands, and converted three of the four break points he earned.
Bublik started the second set confidently, but ended it losing five games in a row, smashing his racket to the ground after one of them.
Auger-Aliassime began his serve for the match with his 12th ace. A forehand winner at the net gave him his first match point, and he sealed it with another powerful forehand. Auger-Aliassime patted his heart and waved to the crowd.
“I know what I can do against the best players in the world, but you still have to go out and perform,” he said.
