Paris Masters 1000: Felix Auger-Aliassime first finalist, end of the race for Alexander Bublik

Alexander Bublik’s ride to the Paris Masters 1000 ends in the semifinals: on the concrete of the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, the Kazakh in fact succumbs to an increasingly in-form Felix Auger-Aliassime, who thus finds qualification in the final, putting Lorenzo Musetti’s qualification to the ATP Finals even more at risk.

A substantially balanced match, in which the Canadian showed more lucidity in the top moments, ended 7-6(3), 6-4.

The first set saw both contenders win all the games on their own serve until the tie-break, in which the 6-1 partial for Auger-Aliassime was decisive, while the second fraction saw Bublik start better and lead 3-1, except slipping in the following games and leaving the court and the victory to the opponent of the day.

For Felix Auger-Aliassime it will be the 20th career final in a major circuit tournament, the second at Masters 1000 level after losing in Madrid in 2024 to Andrey Rublev. The’last success in an ATP tournament is very recent: last October 19, in fact, the Canadian won the Brussels 250 by beating Jiri Lehecka in the final.

As for Bublik, on the other hand, the positive series stops after four consecutive successes: in fact, the Kazakh had beaten, just in Paris, Alexei Popyrin, Corentin Moutet, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur, before succumbing to Auger-Aliassime. Qualification for the APT Finals, in fact already very difficult, now seems compromised.