Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime plays Denmark's Holger Rune during their semifinal match at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Georgios Kefalas/Keystone via AP
Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime plays Denmark's Holger Rune during their semifinal match at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Georgios Kefalas/Keystone via AP
BASEL, Switzerland - Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime will get a chance to defend his championship at the Swiss Indoors tennis event on Sunday.
Auger-Aliassime advanced to the title game with a 6-3, 6-2 semifinal win over top seed Holger Rune of Denmark on Saturday.
The six-seeded Auger-Aliassime used a strong service game — firing five aces and winning 82 per cent of his first serves— to make short work of world No. 6 Rune.
Auger-Aliassime conceded only two break chances, both in the second set when he already led 5-2.
The semifinal, which lasted just 82 minutes, was a rematch of last year's final, which Auger-Aliassime won 6-3, 7-5.
Auger-Aliassime's opponent on Sunday will be Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, who downed France's Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 in Saturday's other semifinal.
The two players have met three times before, with Auger-Aliassime winning twice.
The 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime won four ATP tournaments, including the Swiss Indoors, in 2022, but he has yet to win a title this year and his world ranking has dropped from a career-high sixth to 19th.
Hurkacz, 26, will be looking for his eighth career title and his third in 2023.
This report by ºÃÉ«tvwas first published Oct. 28, 2023.
