Auger-Aliassime extends winning streak to 14 matches with 3-set victory over Ymer at Paris Masters | CBC Sports

Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime kept his winning streak alive with a razor-thin 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over Sweden’s Mikael Ymer in second-round action Wednesday at the Paris Masters tennis tournament.

Auger-Aliassime won on his second match point opportunity to end a marathon match that took three and a half hours to complete. With the eight-seeded Canadian serving for the match, Ymer hit a forehand long as Auger-Aliassime continued his march toward the season-ending ATP Finals with his 14th straight win.

Auger-Aliassime set up his second match point when Ymer hit a shot into the net on the following point.

Ymer, who advanced to the main draw through qualifying, did not make it easy for the in-form Auger-Aliassime.

The Montreal native, who entered Paris after holding serve throughout his tournament win last week at the Swiss Indoors in Basel, faced 17 break points on Wednesday and saved 14 of them.

But Auger-Aliassime was opportunistic on his break chances, converting four of five.

Auger-Aliassime had 11 winners to Ymer’s two and 45 winners to his opponent’s 34.

The Canadian will next face the winner of a match between ninth-seeded American Taylor Fritz and French wild-card Gilles Simon.

WATCH | Auger-Aliassime collects 4th career title with win in Vienna:

Auger-Aliassime stays scorching hot with Swiss Indoors title win

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime collected his third-straight ATP title after defeating Holger Rune in straight sets on Sunday in Basel.

Fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., was scheduled to play Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, the tournament’s 14th seed, later Wednesday.

Auger-Aliassime entered the tournament on the heels of three straight titles: ATP 250 tournament wins in Florence, Italy and Antwerp, Belgium and the ATP 500 win in Basel.

He is seeking his first Masters-level title in Paris as well as his first berth in the ATP Finals.

Auger-Aliassime entered Paris ranked sixth in the ATP Finals qualifying standings. The players holding down the sixth and seventh spots at the end of the tournament will earn the final two berths.

Fritz entered the tournament in eighth spot.

The ATP Finals start Nov. 13 in Turin, Italy.

de Minaur upsets 4th-seeded Medvedev

Alex de Minaur upset fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday.

After rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the final set, De Minaur failed to convert his first two match points at 5-4. He hit a return out on the first match point and made an unforced error on the second.

But the Australian got two more chances at 6-5. Medvedev saved the third match point with a service winner before double-faulting on the fourth and angrily throwing his racket to the ground.

Medvedev, who won the Paris Masters in 2020 and was runner-up last year, dropped serve in the first set by overhitting a smash in the final game. But the Russian capitalized on unforced errors by De Minaur to break twice in the second set.

De Minaur will next play Frances Tiafoe, who beat Jack Draper 6-3, 7-5.

Tsitsipas raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set. He then hit a forehand winner across court to break Evans in the opening game of the second, before converting his first match point with an ace.

“I’m happy with the level of tennis I brought when I had to,” Tsitsipas said. “I was moving well, I was dictating well. I combined everything, including my defence, the transition to offence. I was serving well, I was very calm in important moments, and it paid off.”