Felix Auger-Aliassime had to engineer a comeback in order to reach the Paris Masters final.
Down 1-4 in the second set, Auger-Aliassime battled back against Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik to win 7-6(3), 6-4 and reach his second ATP Masters 1000 final.
No. 13-ranked Bublik smashed his racket on the ground after one of five consecutive losses in the fifth set.
Serving for the match, Auger-Aliassime began with his 12th ace. A forehand winner at the net gave him a first match point and he clinched it with another big forehand. Auger-Aliassime patted his heart and waved to the crowd.
Auger-Aliassime is the first player outside of Europe to reach ATP Masters 1000 finals on multiple surfaces since Kei Nishikori in 2016.
His last appearance in an ATP Masters 1000 final came at the 2024 Madrid Open —played on clay — where he eventually lost to Andrey Rublev
Auger-Aliassime has won titles this year in Adelaide, Montpellier and Brussels and is chasing his ninth career championship, which would be his first at the ATP 1000 level.
Bublik was the first Kazakh to reach a Masters semifinal. He lost for the fourth time in six matches to Auger-Aliassime, who remains on track to qualify for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. He can secure the eighth and final spot by winning Sunday’s final.
The ninth-seeded Canadian will face either Jannik Sinner or defending champion Alexander Zverev for the title.
Sinner and Zverev were playing their semifinal later Saturday at the La Défense Arena. The four-time Grand Slam champion Sinner needs to win the tournament to reclaim the No. 1 ranking from Carlos Alcaraz.
— With files from the Associated Press
About the Author
