Félix Auger-Aliassime progressed to the semifinals of the Paris Masters tennis tournament, gaining valuable points towards qualifying for the ATP Finals. He secured a spot in the final four by defeating wildcard Valentin Vacherot of Monaco with a score of 6-2, 6-2. Auger-Aliassime now faces 13th-seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the upcoming match.
This victory brought Auger-Aliassime within 90 points of Lorenzo Musetti in the race for the last spot at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. A win in the semifinals would propel Auger-Aliassime ahead of Musetti, who was eliminated in the Paris tournament’s second round.
Prior to the quarterfinals, Auger-Aliassime had been securing wins in three-set matches and tight tiebreaks, while Vacherot was on a remarkable 10-match winning streak at the ATP 1000 level, having recently won a Masters-level event in Shanghai. However, Auger-Aliassime, seeded ninth in Paris, displayed an impressive performance against Vacherot, winning 89% of first-serve points and saving the two break points he faced.
Reflecting on his match, Auger-Aliassime acknowledged the challenge of facing a confident opponent like Vacherot but expressed satisfaction with his focused and intense play from the start. He dominated the return points, limiting Vacherot to 6-of-39 and breaking him four times.
Auger-Aliassime is aiming for his ninth career title and his first at the Masters level. In the other semifinal, Alexander Bublik advanced by upsetting sixth-seed Alex de Minaur in a hard-fought match.
On the women’s side of the tournament, Canada’s Victoria Mboko and Leylah Fernandez secured victories in the quarterfinals of the Hong Kong Open. Fernandez, seeded second, defeated Sorana Cirstea, while Mboko, seeded third, advanced with a walkover against Anna Kalinskaya. The two Canadians will face off in the semifinals, with the winner set to compete against either Cristina Bucsa of Spain or Maya Joint of Australia for a spot in the final.