(Paris) Félix Auger-Aliassime continued his irresistible streak and reached the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Thursday, after beating Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-3 on the cement of the Accor Arena.
Posted at 12:11 p.m.
Auger-Aliassime therefore recorded a 15e straight win, a streak in which he clinched three titles – those of Florence, Antwerp and Basel – bringing his career tally to four.
It was the third career meeting between Auger-Aliassime and the 188e world player, and the first on cement since the victory of the representative of the maple leaf in the semi-finals of the indoor tournament in Marseille in 2020. The Quebecer ended the duel after one hour and 33 minutes.
In the quarter-finals, Auger-Aliassime will meet American Frances Tiafoe, who defeated Australian Alex De Minaur 6-3, 7-6 (5) earlier in the day. The Canadian is 2-0 in his career on the ATP Tour against Tiafoe.
Unlike the day before against the Swede Mikael Ymer, when he had struggled before overcoming it after a marathon match of three hours and 29 minutes, Auger-Aliassime proved to be expeditious in the first round against Simon.
PHOTO CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Gilles Simon
He won the first set after just 36 minutes, after outscoring the 37-year-old Frenchman 7-1 in aces and converting two of his five break points against him. The 22-year-old tennis player was also very tight from the back of the court, not granting any break points during the set to the crowd favorite.
The Quebecer continued his momentum in the second set, and sealed the outcome of the match by converting his fourth break point of the duel.
It was Simon’s last career game, and the spectators gave him a standing ovation to underline his fine career. Auger-Aliassime also applauded him, before writing “Thank you Gillou! into the camera lens.
This week in Paris, Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz and Hubert Hurkacz were all battling for the final two passes to the ATP Finals. The backhand for ninth-seeded Fritz confirmed Auger-Aliassime and Rublev’s participation in the prestigious tournament which will take place from November 13-20 in Turin, Italy.
Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic were all qualified for the ATP Finals which will bring together eight tennis players.
In other matches on Thursday, Alcaraz easily defeated Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-3, setting the stage for a next-round duel against Holger Rune, who beat Rublev 6-4, 7-5.
On the other hand, the Italian Lorenzo Musetti surprised everyone a bit by coming from behind to oust the third seed, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, in three sets of 4-6, 6-4 and 6- 4.
Musetti will cross swords in the quarter-finals with the winner of the duel which will take place later today between the Serbian Novak Djokovic and the Russian Karen Khachanov.
At the end of the day, the fifth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, will have an appointment with the local favorite, Corentin Moutet, while the crusher of Ontario Denis Shapovalov the day before, Pablo Carreno Busta, will face the American Tommy Paul.