Auger-Aliassime rallies in Paris, keeps Turin hopes alive
The 2025 Nitto ATP Finals remain on Felix Auger-Aliassime’s radar, but only just.
With his hopes of reaching the prestigious season finale hanging by a thread on Wednesday at the Rolex Paris Masters, the Canadian rallied to a nail-biting 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) win against Alexandre Muller to stay in the Turin hunt.
Watch Auger-Aliassime’s Magic Moment To Kick-start Paris Comeback:
Auger-Aliassime stepped on court at Paris’ La Défense Arena knowing that a second-round exit to home favourite Muller at the indoor ATP Masters 1000 would end his hopes of a top-eight finish in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. The ninth seed soon found himself a set and a break down, but he was able to hold on for a crucial victory despite delivering a wildly inconsistent display overall.
The 25-year-old Auger-Aliassime fired 50 winners, including 21 aces, but his efforts were undermined by his 55 unforced errors. In contrast, Muller struck 20 winners and made just 24 unforced errors, but the World No. 44 was unable to find a path to victory after letting slip a 2-0, 40/30 lead in the second set.
Auger-Aliassime missed a match point on return at 6-5, 30/40 in the deciding set but later won seven of the final eight points of the match to recover from 0/3 in the deciding-set tie-break and seal his three-hour, five-minute triumph. With his Tour-leading 80th indoor win this decade, the Canadian moved within 390 points of eight-placed Lorenzo Musetti in the Live Race.
Auger-Aliassime will next aim to maintain the pressure on Italy’s Musetti when he takes on Daniel Altmaier in the third round. Altmaier earlier ended the Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes of 11th-placed Casper Ruud with a 6-3, 7-5 upset.
Defending champion Alexander Zverev was also forced to dig deep to book his third-round spot. The German rallied past Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5 to extend his Rolex Paris Masters winning streak to six matches and improve to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the Argentine.
Watch Highlights Of Zverev’s Hard-earned Paris Win
“Definitely [a good win],” said Zverev, who was competing just four days after his Vienna championship-match defeat to Jannik Sinner, in his post-match interview. “Especially after a tough [loss] last week. To come out here, and I didn’t expect him to play the way he did, to be perfectly honest.
“It’s something I have to learn from. I played him in Rome, and he was nowhere near that level. That’s a mistake from me. I have to prepare better for my opponents, but he was fantastic today.”
Zverev leapfrogged Novak Djokovic into third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as a result of his two-hour, 36-minute triumph against Ugo Carabelli. Already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, he will next take on 15th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who downed home wild card Arthur Cazaux 7-6(5), 6-4, in the French capital.
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