Felix Auger Aliassime edged past top seed Tommy Paul 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-3 after 2 hours and 45 minutes in the semifinal of the Adelaide International to reach the 16thATP Tour final of his career and his first on indoor hard-courts since the ATP 250 tournament in 2021.
Auger Aliassime saved all three break points he faced in the third set. The defeat denied Paul from securing his rise into the top 10. The US player would have leapfrogged Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov to take the world number 10 spot in the ATP Ranking with a win in the semifinal, but is still aiming to achieve this goal in the coming weeks at the Australian Open.
Auger Aliassime earned the first break of the match in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead, but Paul bounced back by reeling off 10 consecutive points to break back in the next game for 4-4. Paul held a set point at 5-4 on return at 5-4 30-40 but Auger Aliassime saved it before winning six of the next seven points from 1-2 down to win the the tie-break 7-3.
Auger Aliassime converted his fourth break point in the second game of the second set to open up a 2-0 lead but Paul came back by breaking three times to win the second set 6-3.
Auger Aliassime earned an early break in the first game of the third set. The Canadian player saved three break points to hold serve for 4-2 before serving out the win on his fourth match point.
Auger Aliassime has won four consecutive matches, since his defeat against Croatia’s Borna Coric at the United Cup in his opening match of the 2025 season, including his wins against Taylor Fritz at the United Cup and Paul in Adelaide.
Auger Aliassime will face a championships match against the winner of the other semifinal between Miomir Kecmanovic and Sebastian Korda.
“It was a battle. It was about physical effort, mental effort, because it was a match with lots of ups and downs. I feel like it was not the best from both players, but sometimes matches are like this. You have to battle with what you have and find a way through, and I am really happy I did today”,said Auger Aliassime.
