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Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime fell 6-2, 6-4 to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals of the ATP Finals tennis tournament on Saturday.
The Montreal native was coming off a straight-sets upset win over third-ranked Alexander Zverev of Germany on Friday.
However, the top-ranked Alcaraz proved to be too much.
Auger-Aliassime had five aces to just one double fault but failed to break on his lone opportunity in the match. Alcaraz, who will face second-ranked Jannik Sinner of Italy in Sunday’s final, also had five aces and one double fault, but broke on three of his eight chances.
With the opening set tied at 1-1, Alcaraz jumped out to a 4-1 edge before winning two of the three final games to take the set.
In the second, Auger-Aliassime was chasing, but pushed Alcaraz to a 4-4 tie. Alcaraz only gave up two points in the final two games to emerge victorious.
Sinner beats de Minaur
Sinner beat Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday — improving to 13-0 against the Australian — to reach the championship match of the ATP Finals before his home fans.
The second-ranked Sinner is aiming to retain his title in the season-ending tournament for the year’s top eight players. Sinner will face Alcaraz or Felix Auger-Aliassime in Sunday’s final.
Alcaraz already secured the year-ending No. 1 ranking but is seeking to reach his first final at this event.
Sinner and Alcaraz have met in the last three Grand Slam finals. Alcaraz beat Sinner in a fifth-set tiebreaker to win the French Open; Sinner gained a measure of revenge by beating Alcaraz for the Wimbledon trophy; then Alcaraz again came out on top at the U.S. Open.
Carlos Alcaraz, right, poses for photos with Jannik Sinner following the men’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships on Sept. 7. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press)
Sinner also won the Australian Open — beating Alexander Zverev in the final — so he and Alcaraz each won two majors this year.
It’s the third consecutive final in Turin for Sinner, who hasn’t dropped a set at finals since getting beat by Novak Djokovic in the 2023 championship match — a run of 18 consecutive sets.
Sinner saved three break points in his opening service game after falling behind 0-40 and then finally managed to break De Minaur for a 6-5 advantage before serving the set out.
The second set was never really in question, as Sinner jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
“I was happy with how I served and with how I reacted in the important moments,” Sinner said.
Sinner extended his winning streak on indoor hard courts to 31 matches — also stretching back to that 2023 final against Djokovic. He hasn’t dropped his serve this week.