Auger-Aliassime through to semis at Qatar Open, next faces nemesis Medvedev

DOHA, Qatar – Canadian tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-6 (5) Thursday at the Qatar Open, setting up a semifinal against nemesis Daniil Medvedev.

Auger-Aliassime, seeded second at the ATP 250 hard court event, fired eight aces and won 86 per cent of first service points in a win over the seventh-seeded Spaniard that took one hour 48 minutes to complete.

The 22-year-old from Montreal faced just two break points in the match, with both coming in Game 6 of the second set. Auger-Aliassime induced Davidovich Fokina into unforced errors to come back from 15-40 and scored a crucial hold to tie the set 3-3.

After an unforced error from Auger-Alissime tied the tiebreaker at 5-5, the Canadian rattled off a pair of winners to improve his 2023 record to 7-3.

Auger-Aliassime scored the only break of the match in Game 9 of the first set before serving for the win.

Next up is Medvedev, the Russian third seed who improved his career record against the Canadian to 5-0 with a 6-2, 6-4 win last week in the quarterfinals of the Rotterdam Open, a tournament that Auger-Aliassime won in 2022.

Jiri Lehecka of Czechia and Britain’s Andy Murray are the other semifinalists.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 23, 2023.