Sweet 16 as Felix extends autumn win streak

Red-hot Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday reached his second semi-final at a Masters 1000 with a 6-1, 6-4 hammering of Frances Tiafoe at Paris Bercy.

FAA, who this week qualified into the eight-man season finals in Turin starting in nine days, is within striking distance of his fourth consecutive title.

He had a fruitful October, lifting consecutive trophies in Florence, Antwerp and Basel.

His 56 match wins this season leave him third in the ATP statistics and include 27-4 indoors in 2022.

“It’s crazy, because I remember like yesterday making my first semi-final in Miami,” he said. 

“I thought at the time it was fine, making a semi-final in a Masters, (I thought) ]I would do it many times in the future.

“It took three years for me to get back there. It  just proves how tough it is at this level to reach the semi-finals or better at these events. 

“I’m really happy that I was able to do it.”

FAA finished with 26 winners against his American opponent in the 94-minute success.

“The luck was on my side, but I feel like I played a great match,” he said, “We’ve played a few times. To come out and play the way I did in the first set, 6-1, it was great.

“Serving for the match and [I] stayed cool and played great points when I needed to.”

Tiafoe saved five match points in the marathon penultimate game before his opponent closed out victory on his sixth chance a game later.