Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime defeated Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the Paris Olympic Games.
The 23-year-old Quebecer is therefore assured of playing for a medal in men’s singles and mixed doubles.
In the semi-final of the men’s singles, Auger-Aliassime, 13e seeded, will face Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, number 2. The latter won 6-3, 7-6 (7) against American Tommy Paul, number 9.
Canada has won only one Olympic medal in tennis so far, when Sébastien Lareau and Daniel Nestor triumphed in men’s doubles at the Sydney Games in 2000.
Auger-Aliassime lost in the first round at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Ruud, a two-time French Open finalist, had won three of his five previous meetings with Auger-Aliassime. However, he lost their most recent encounter, on clay in Barcelona this spring.
Auger-Aliassime showed more consistency during the match on Thursday. Ruud, seeded sixth, often opened the door to his rival by being erratic on serve.
The match ended after 2 hours 47 minutes of play.
In the mixed doubles, Auger-Aliassime will play alongside Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski later on Thursday. They will face Czechs Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac for a place in the grand final.
China’s Xinyu Wang and Zhizhen Zhang have already won the other semi-final 2-6, 6-4, 10-4 in a super tiebreaker against the Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof.
The mixed doubles medal matches will be presented on Friday.