Auger-Aliassime Reaches His Third Final In 2025 At Dubai Championships
News
Felix Auger-Aliassime is having a great 2025 season. He already reached his third final of 2025 at the Dubai Championships.
Auger-Aliassime started the year by winning the Adelaide International. Only a few weeks ago, he added another title in Montpellier, and now, the Canadian player is close to his third title of the season.
He made it to the semi-finals at the ATP 500 event in Dubai, where his opponent was Quentin Halys. The Frenchman, ranked 77th in the world, was having a great run in the United Arab Emirates, but he wasn't the favorite.
Auger-Aliassime is the third player in the 2025 ATP Race, only behind Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev. He's even ahead of Carlos Alcaraz. The 24-year-old Canadian also has more wins on the ATP Tour than anyone else.
But he didn't start well in this semi-final match. Halys was the first player to break to lead 3-1, but he lost his advantage. At 5-4, however, the Frenchman had three set points, but he couldn't use those.
Down 5-6, Auger-Aliassime led 40-15 on his serve. Fans were getting ready for a tie-break, but that never came. Halys won four points in a row to break his opponent's serve and win the opening set of the match 7-5.
But the French player wasn't able to follow up on that initial success. Auger-Aliassime was the better player in the second set, winning it 6-4 to force the decider.
The third set was a proper battle with multiple chances on both sides. Auger-Aliassime was the one who got to more chances, but he also used more of those chances.
That's why he was able to break Halys' serve twice to win the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, reaching the 2025 Dubai Championships final. With this win, Auger-Aliassime further separated himself as the player with the most wins in 2025. He now has 16 wins, three more than Jiri Lehecka and Alex de Minaur.
The Canadian player will now await the winner of the match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Tallon Griekspoor in the final of the tournament.
After the match, Auger-Aliassime admitted that he is really tired. He played four three-setters this week, and also had a challenging week in Doha before that.
"I don’t know how I pulled it through today. I only played three-setters this week, we were both feeling a bit tired I think. It was just [about] having positive self talk, I think everyone can relate. When we’re having a tough day, just to have a pep talk and stay positive. I did that well and dug deep physically, so I’m really happy it paid off today."
"It’s never easy, coming from Doha you feel a bit tired. But it’s the same challenge for everyone, that’s what is interesting. It’s [about] who’s going to be sharp when they need to, and win the important points. It’s never easy, but I feel more and more confident that I have the solutions to come through matches like this."
