Swiatek dismantles Keys in 61 minutes at WTA Finals
Iga Swiatek produces a dominant start in her bid for a second WTA Finals title, dismantling Madison Keys in just 61 minutes in Riyadh.
Iga Swiatek produces a dominant start in her bid for a second WTA Finals title, dismantling Madison Keys in just 61 minutes in Riyadh.
One of the ATP Tour’s most prolific indoor performers is showing no sign of slowing down at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Felix Auger-Aliassime on Saturday continued his late-2025 purple patch with an impressive 7-6(3), 6-4 semi-final victory against Alexander Bublik in the French capital. The ninth-seeded Canadian was clinical with his chances in his 96-minute victory to secure a spot in his second ATP Masters 1000 final and simultaneously replace Lorenzo Musetti in the final qualification spot for the Nitto ATP Finals.
Got the job done 💼@felixtennis | @RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/wdxg5SrqIN
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 1, 2025
“I’m so happy. A Masters 1000 final sounds really good,” said Auger-Aliassime after reaching his second championship match at that level after Madrid 2024. “You don’t play those finals every week. Hopefully I can go all the way and get the title. In terms of today and even the past matches… You get into a Masters, and every match is tough.
“It’s a 56-draw and it is stacked. You wake up on a day and feel, ‘This guy is playing good, everybody is playing good’. So you’re always curious and bit nervous to see how your game is going to match up. I have deep self confidence in my game. I know what I can do against the best players in the world, but you still have to go and execute. Today I did really well and I’m happy with the result.”
As well as setting a championship-match clash with second seed Jannik Sinner or third seed Alexander Zverev in Paris, Auger-Aliassime also made a significant move in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin with his semi-final triumph. The 25-year-old has leapfrogged Musetti into eighth place, and he can wrap up the one remaining qualification spot at the Nitto ATP Finals by lifting the trophy in France on Sunday.
If Auger-Aliassime does not lift the Paris trophy, he will nonetheless head to next week’s Moselle Open in Metz with a 90-point lead over Musetti in the Live Race. Italy’s Musetti will also be in ATP 250 action next week in Athens.
“These are the matches you train for and play for,” said Auger-Aliassime, when asked how he would approach Sunday’s final against Sinner or Zverev in Paris. “It’s always great to play these guys and see how my game matches with theirs. I’ve played tennis for a long time. You are training all these years to improve.
“I’ve played some great opponents and tomorrow I have the chance to showcase it in front of everyone. I’m going to wake up ready. At the same time, with these guys, you have to be so sharp. Tactically, and with discipline. They don’t give you anything, so you have to be ready to play you’re A-game.”
[ATP AWARDS]Against Bublik, Auger-Aliassime clinched a tight first set that did not feature a break point by winning six of the final seven points in the tie-break. In contrast to the opener, the second set featured five breaks of serve: Bublik appeared to have responded well to the disappointment of dropping the first set and the Kazakhstani forged a 4-1 lead, but Auger-Aliassime stormed back with five straight games to prevail.
The Canadian finished the match having struck 31 winners, 17 of which came from his forehand wing. Against the big-serving Bublik, who was competing in his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final, Auger-Aliassime also clinically converted three of the four break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
With his triumph at La Défense Arena, Auger-Aliassime improved to 4-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Bublik. He has now won a Tour-leading 82 indoor matches this decade.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]The ATP 250 in Athens next week could decide Lorenzo Musetti’s Nitto ATP Finals fate and feature an early test for 100-time tour-level titlist Novak Djokovic, providing several intriguing storylines for fans to follow at the Vanda Pharmaceuticals Hellenic Championship.
With one Nitto ATP Finals spot still up for grabs, Musetti is fighting to keep his hopes alive in a tight PIF ATP Live Race To Turin that could be decided in the final week of the season. Meanwhile, top-seeded Djokovic could open his campaign against a familiar foe — Alejandro Tabilo, one of three players to have faced the Serbian at least twice and not lost.
[ATP AWARDS]Musetti, eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, is aiming to make his Nitto ATP Finals debut and join countryman Jannik Sinner at the season finale on home soil.
Should ninth-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime win his semi-final match Saturday at the Rolex Paris Masters, the Canadian will move ahead of Musetti, adding weight to the 23-year-old’s Athens appearance. Musetti will begin against former No. 3 Stan Wawrinka or Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
Djokovic, competing for the first time since Shanghai, will face either Tabilo or Australian Adam Walton in his opening match. Tabilo beat the 100-time tour-level titlist Djokovic earlier this year in Monte-Carlo and last season in Rome. Djokovic holds a 35-11 season record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.
Alexander Zverev earned a memorable victory Friday when he saved two match points to oust rival Daniil Medvedev and keep his title defence hopes alive at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Zverev’s 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) victory ends his five-match skid against Medvedev and earns him a semi-final showdown against second seed Jannik Sinner, a rematch of last week’s Vienna final won by the Italian. Meanwhile, Medvedev’s chances of a Nitto ATP Finals bid are done.
“The thing I’m most pleased with is the match points saved, the way I continued being brave and in the important moments, winning the match myself,” Zverev said in his on-court interview.
[ATP AWARDS]From the start, a dialled-in Medvedev stuck to his trademark deep return position, which Zverev tried to counter early with serve-and-volleys or by using drop shots. Zverev, who fell in the eighth game and briefly held his left hamstring, switched his strategy to rely more on his firepower. He lifted the ante and began to test Medvedev from the baseline.
“I felt like in the beginning I was playing well, but I was playing very stupid tactically,” Zverev said. “I felt my shots, I felt like I could turn the match around because I was feeling really well with my shots, but again, I was playing very, very dumb. I changed a few things in my tactics and broke back. He helped me with a break break [at 1-0 in the second set].”
Facing two match points on serve at 4-5 in the decider, Zverev kept his cool, even when faced with a nervy sitting overhead that he put away. He would later miss a similar shot at 5/3 in the tie-break.
In the same game he twice saved match point, the 28-year-old won a crucial Deuce point with a 27-shot rally that ended with a net cord winner. Eventually sealing the win in a back-and-forth tie-break, Zverev laid on the court in relief after the two-hour, thirty-minute victory.
Pure power 💥@AlexZverev battles back from a set down v. Medvedev to set up a semi-final against Sinner 🍿@RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/b2yptYboPv
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 31, 2025
Zverev is now 8-14 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Medvedev and will next look to break his 4-4 tie with Sinner.
“Daniil is kind of my kryptonite, I don’t like playing him,” Zverev said with a laugh. “He’s somebody who has had my number for the last couple of years. I’m very pleased with the win for sure. Against Jannik, we had a fantastic match last Sunday. I’m happy to be on court with him again. Hopefully we share another great match.”
Zverev committed nine backhand unforced errors for the match, compared to Medvedev’s 23. But Medvedev held the advantage off the forehand side, crushing 19 winners to 12 unforced errors. Zverev hit 14 forehand winners and 21 unforced errors.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]