For the second week in a row Felix Auger-Aliassime will be playing for a Tour title after beating Roman Safiullin 7-6, 7-6, at the Open 13 in Marseille.
The Montreal native got off to a quick start by earning two chances to break in the very first game of the match and broke to take an early 1-0 lead but at 2-1, the Russian broke back to go back on serve.
At 3-2, the world number 168, who had shocked the tennis world by upsetting Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, had six break points and managed to break at the sixth time of asking to take a 4-2 lead.
The very next game Auger-Aliassime responded again by breaking the Russian to love to go back on serve as the first set headed into a tiebreaker.
Saffiulin jumped out to a 3-0 lead. However, at 4-1 the world number nine won three straight points to level the breaker at 4-4 and from there Auger-Aliassime managed to win the first set.
The second set stayed on serve until 4-3 when the Rotterdam champion earned four more breakpoints but the Russian was able to save all four and hold serve. Again the set was decided by a tiebreaker.
Auger-Aliassime got the first break of serve in the breaker with a powerful forehand winner and jumped out to a 4-1 lead but this time it was the Russian who battled back to level the breaker at 4-4. He then got the crucial break he needed to take a 6-5 lead with another stunning forehand and served out the match the following point to reach the final.
” He was a great player in juniors but I think he was unfortunate with a few injuries,” Auger-Aliassime said of Safiullin. “And that’s the life of a tennis player with ups and downs. I think he is a quality player and he will show great things this season. It was a few points that made the difference but I am happy I found a way again”.
Auger-Aliassime will next take on Andrey Rublev after the Russian beat Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. It is the second week in a row where when the two have clashed on the Tour. Last week in Rotterdam the Canadian prevailed in three sets.
“It’s always very tough (to play Rublev) and it was a close one last week. I was a bit lucky to come back in that second set and win it so I want to play a bit better than I did last week but he’s in form and one of the best players on tour. It’s always a good battle against Andrey”. He said.
After losing eight straight finals the Canadian is on the verge of winning back-to-back titles for the first time in his career.
