Auger-Aliasisme Continues His Turin Bid With Latest Paris Masters Victory

Felix Auger-Aliassime
Felix Auger-Aliassime (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

PARIS/WASHINGTON, October 31, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

With so much drama unfolding this week at the final Masters 1000 event of the season, the Rolex Paris Masters, it was time to pair the original 56-player draw down to its last four competitors.

First, as 40th-ranked wild card Valentin Vacherot aimed to extend his 10-match winning streak at ATP Masters 1000 level in the opening quarterfinal match of the Rolex Paris Masters Friday, on the other side of the net, World No. 10 Felix Auger-Aliassime looked to become the second man after World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz (11) to reach 10 semifinals this season.

As the Monegasque No. 1 sought to be the first first-time ATP Masters 1000 champion to reach the semifinals in the following Masters 1000 event since Daniil Medvedev won titles at Cincinnati and Shanghai in 2019, the ninth-seeded Auger-Aliassime looked to garner his ATP Tour-leading 14th indoor win of the season. The Canadian No. 1 also knew that as long as he continued to win – and reach Sunday’s title match – he could overtake Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti for the eighth and final spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, which begins a week from Sunday.

As it happened, Auger-Aliassime won his fourth-straight match in the French capital city, this time for the first time in straight sets, with his 6-2, 6-2 victory over Vacherot in one hour and 18 minutes on Court Central to reach his fourth career ATP Masters 1000 semifinal – and second one in Paris. In his previous three wins this week, he had been pushed to three sets in order to advance. Not this time.

With plenty at stake and an enthusiastic crowd filling 17,500-seat Paris La Défense Arena for the matinee session, Vacherot and Auger-Aliassime began their quarterfinal by grinding through a seven-deuce, 20-point opening game that lasted more than 12 minutes. It included three break points and was won by Auger-Aliassime on his third break-point opportunity, after Vacherot netted a third-shot backhand. Quickly, the Canadian No. 1 held at love to consolidate the break for a 2-0 lead and it was off and running from there. 

Soon, Auger-Aliassime went ahead by a double-break lead at 4-1, after breaking Vacherot at love. Then, he coasted through the remainder of the set by keeping his opponent on the move and on the back foot. Auger-Aliassime closed out the 38-minute opener with an ace, his 12th winner of the set. He won all but one point on his serve, controlled the net, and took full advantage of 12 unforced errors produced by Vacherot.

In the next set, at 2-all and under constant pressure, Vacherot saved a break point on his serve, down 15-40. However, the more experienced Auger-Aliassime broke after Vacherot double-faulted, and it allowed him to take command of the quarterfinal, ahead 3-2. He consolidated the break without much worry to push ahead 4-2, needing to hold his serve twice more to advance to the semifinal round. 

However, Vacherot became untidy with his own serve in the next game and was broken for the third time in the match by Auger-Aliassime, who was unrelenting throughout the entire quarterfinal. Finally, Auger-Aliassime, who didn’t face any break points until the final game of the contest, closed out his 47th victory of the 2025 campaign by capturing the final four points of the match. He was not to be denied.

“Every opponent is different,” Auger-Aliassime said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “Obviously, it was an interesting challenge coming on the court today, playing a player that I knew from practice but never played in a match. He’s so confident and you’re like kind of scared, to be honest. I don’t know if he has some magic right now that nobody else has but he’s been playing unbelievable.”

Auger-Aliassime played pretty unbelievable tennis himself, producing 22 winners – 16 of them from his forehand side – to just 10 unforced errors. By comparison, Vacherot finished with just 11 winners while committing 20 unforced errors. Auger-Aliassime won 89 percent (24 of 27) of his first-serve points and backed it by winning 75 percent (9 of 12) of his second-serve points. He saved both break points he faced and converted four of eight chances against Vacherot. Auger-Aliassime outpointed his opponent 63-37.

“I had to be so focused from the start,” Auger-Aliassime admitted. “I think this level of intensity from the get-go, from the first game I brought, eased me into the match and I played some great tennis.”

Although Vacherot’s remarkable – and surprising – winning streak had come to an end, he walked off Court Central applauding his fans and acknowledged the standing ovation from the mostly-French crowd. He was applauded by Auger-Aliassime, too.

Like he had been in Shanghai two weeks ago, when he became the lowest-ranked player in history to win an ATP Masters 1000 title, Vacherot became quite the surprise of this week’s ATP Masters 1000 event. He won three straight matches on Court Central and reached a second-consecutive ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal. His PIF ATP Live Ranking has climbed to No. 30, which will set him up very nicely for the start of the 2026 season. Vacherot has come a long way in a short time, after being ranked No. 204 at the start of the month.

Meanwhile, with Auger-Aliassime’s 14th consecutive indoor triumph secured and now just 90 points (3,685 to 3,595) behind Musetti in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, he will face World No. 16 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan on Saturday afternoon in his seventh hard-court semifinal of the season — and 10th overall. Bublik defeated World No. 6 Alex de Minaur of Australia, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5, in two hours and 22 minutes in back of 44 winners — including 16 aces — to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal. Bublik can still qualify for Turin if he wins the Paris title.

For certain, there’s plenty for Auger-Aliassime to be motivated by this late in the 2025 season as he chases after his second appearance in Turin.

“I’m trying to win every match I play, whether it’s the end of the year or the start of the year,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Everything counts. Everything adds up in this sport. I think it’s just the work that I put in – the routines – I try to be consistent with my work, I try to bring consistency in everything that I do. Obviously, it’s very gratifying when you get the consistency in your results. 

“I guess 10 semifinals also means I’m playing a lot of tournaments. So, hopefully, we get some big semifinals and big finals in the year to come.”

Sinner extends his indoor winning streak to 24 straight

World No. 2 Jannik Sinner continued his Paris run in solid form as he looks to regain the No. 1 ranking with a title win this week.

Friday evening against World No. 7 Ben Shelton, the 24-year-old Italian star won his 24th straight indoor hard-court match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory that was over in only 69 minutes. Sinner, who dropped just one point on his first serve during the first set, won 80 percent (32 of 40) of his serve points, broke Shelton’s serve four times in eight tries and outpointed the American No. 2 55-36. It all added up to his 51st victory of the 2025 season.

Sinner, who was appearing in the 400th tour-level match of his career, became the first Italian man to reach 43 tour-level semifinals, surpassing Fabio Fognini and Adriano Panatta at 42. It was Sinner’s seventh straight win over Shelton and his latest triumph lifted him into his first Rolex Paris Masters semifinal, making him the first Italian to reach the last four in the City of Lights.

“It was a very tough match. At times against Ben you don’t have a lot of control because of his incredible serving, but today I felt like I was returning very well,” Sinner said during his on-court interview with ATP Media. “Also from the back of the court, I played very solid and also very aggressive, so I’m very happy about today’s match.”

In Saturday’s semifinal round, Sinner will face defending champion and World No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany, who saved two match points and defeated 2020 champion World No. 13 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), in two hours and 30 minutes to wrap up play Friday evening. Last Sunday, Sinner defeated Zverev for the Erste Bank Open title in Vienna.

In a rematch of their 2020 championship final, Zverev advanced to his fourth Paris semifinal and kept Medvedev from garnering his fourth Top-10 win of the season. Since the start of the 2023 season, Medvedev had won eight of his past nine meetings with Zverev, including both of their previous meetings (2020-21) in Paris.

“Daniil is kind of my kryptonite, I don’t like playing him,” Zverev said during his on-court interview with ATP Media.

This time, Zverev hit 26 winners to overcome 30 unforced errors and withstood 34 winners from Medvedev, who committed 39 unforced errors. Zverev saved six of 10 break points, broke Medvedev’s serve three times and outpointed him 97-93.

Around La Défense Arena

Four doubles semifinals berths were up for grabs Friday on Court 1. 

In the first quarterfinal, French wild cards Quentin Halys and Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina, 6-2, 6-2 in 83 minutes, combining to hit eight aces and converting four of 13 break points. 

In the semifinal round, Halys and Herbert will face No. 3 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain, who rallied to defeat Alexander Erler of Austria and Robert Galloway of the United States, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 10-6, in one hour and 41 minutes.

In the other quarterfinal matches, Francisco Cabral of Portugal and Lucas Miedler of Austria defeated John Peers of Australia and JJ Tracy of the United States, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in one hour and 17 minutes, to set up a semifinal meeting against No. 2 seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool of Great Britain, who beat No. 5 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany, 6-4, 7-5, in an hour and 20 minutes. 

Friday’s Rolex Paris Masters results

Saturday’s Rolex Paris Masters order of play

By the numbers

Jannik Sinner’s 23-match winning streak on indoor hard courts is the seventh longest in ATP Tour history. The longest winning streak on indoor hard courts is 47 and was achieved by John McEnroe between 1978-87. Sinner could surpass sixth-place Pete Sampras’s mark of 26 set in 1996-97.

“Quotable …”

“Of course, [it’s] great. Even in terms of ranking points. If I had continued the way I played in the U.S., I probably would drop out of [the] Top 20. Then, it’s tougher because you can meet Sinner, Alcaraz, Zverev, Fritz, whoever in the early rounds. So, it’s a bit tougher to go up the rankings.

“I’m happy I’m playing well, going deep in the tournaments, climbing up the rankings. Probably No. 12 or No. 13, I don’t even know. If I can push a bit more, it would be great to climb even more.”

– World No. 13 Daniil Medvedev of Russia, during his on-court interview after defeating Lorenzo Sonego of Italy Thursday evening, commenting on reaching his fifth quarterfinal since the US Open and whether his recent success is serving as a launching pad for the 2026 season.

 

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