Auger-Aliassime continues scorching run with win over Tiafoe at Paris Masters
Montreal native captures 16th straight victory, earns spot in ATP Finals
Felix Auger-Aliassime's brilliant late-season surge continued Friday with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Frances Tiafoe in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters.
The 22-year-old from Montreal clinched his 16th straight victory on his sixth match point, hammering a forehand past the American. Auger-Aliassime entered Paris on the heels of three straight tournament wins.
The Canadian has earned a spot in the ATP Finals starting Nov. 13 in Turin, Italy. It's the first time Auger-Aliassime has qualified for the elite season-ending tournament.
"I feel better and better," Auger-Aliassime said in a post-match interview with the ATP. "I heard Novak [Djokovic] saying yesterday that you can always improve and he's won how many Grand Slams, so I can definitely improve a lot more in future.
"Of course right now I'm playing well and feeling good, but I see things that I can still do better and still improve on to be able to top the game."
WATCH l Auger-Aliassime downs American Frances Tiafoe for 16th straight victory:
Down 3-5 in the second set, Tiafoe saved five match points to hold serve. Auger-Aliassime then fell behind love-15 and 15-30 before reeling off three straight points for the victory.
Auger-Aliassime improved his record against Tiafoe to 3-0.
"Of course, I had match points at 5-3 ... [He] tried everything and tried many different ways to stay in the match," Auger-Aliassime said. "He did for one more game, but I'm happy that I was able to be clutch in those moments.
The eighth seed will next face Denmark's Holger Rune in a rematch of last week's final at the Swiss Indoors tournament. Auger-Aliassime won the match 6-3, 7-5.
Rune advanced past Spain's Carlos Alcaraz when the world No. 1 retired with an injury. Rune was leading 6-3, 6-6 at the time.
Auger-Aliassime has won four titles on the ATP Tour, all coming this year. He is seeking his first Masters-level victory in Paris.
Djokovic, Tsitsipas reach semis; Alcaraz retires
Novak Djokovic stayed on course for a record-extending seventh Paris Masters title by dispatching Lorenzo Musetti 6-0, 6-3 in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Djokovic, who has titles in Israel and Kazakhstan this season, is chasing a record-extending 39th Masters title.
Musetti caused Djokovic problems in the French Open fourth round last year, leading by two sets before retiring in the fifth.
Not this time, as the sixth-seeded Serb bulldozed the first set in 24 minutes against the unseeded Italian.
They swapped breaks at the start of the second set as Musetti briefly rallied for 2-2.
Serving for the match, Djokovic held to love and clinched victory when Musettei swiped a wild forehand into the net.
Djokovic leads Tsitsipas 8-2, with the past three of Djokovic's seven straight wins all coming in finals — including a five-set thriller at last year's French Open, where Djokovic rallied from two sets down.
Earlier, top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz was stopped by unseeded Holger Rune of Denmark, who reached his first semis at Masters level.
In a match pitting 19-year-old former junior doubles partners, Rune was leading 6-3, 6-6 and 3-1 in the tiebreaker when the U.S. Open champion Alcaraz retired, a few minutes after having treatment on an abdominal muscle at the changeover.
With files from The Associated Press
