Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec has qualified for the 2022 ATP World Tour Finals in Turin, Italy. The event which will feature the top eight players in the world, will take place from November 13-20.
Auger-Aliassime qualified on Wednesday with the 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 win over Mikael Ymer of Sweden, and the fact Gilles Simon of France upset Taylor Fritz of the United States 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters 1000 Indoor event which is taking place this week in France. Hubert Hurkacz of Poland also had a chance of reaching the 2022 ATP World Tour Finals in Turin, but he lost his second round match at the Paris Indoors to Holger Rune of Denmark, 7-5, 6-1.
The only other Canadian to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in men’s singles action was Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario, who qualified in 2016. Six years ago in London, Raonic reached the semifinals by beating Gael Monfils of France, 6-3, 6-4, and Dominic Thiem of Austria, 7-6, 6-3.
Auger-Aliassime has the sixth most points this year on the ATP World Tour with 3725. He will be joined in the event by Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, Norway’s Casper Ruud, Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.
In Paris this week, the last event before the ATP World Tour Finals, Auger-Aliassime is in the quarterfinals. In the third round on Thursday, he defeated Gilles Simon of France 6-1, 6-3. It was the final match of Simon’s career, as the two-time grand slam quarterfinalist has announced his retirement at the age of 37.
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Auger-Aliassime, who is seeded eighth, will play the 16th seed, Frances Tiafoe of the United States. Auger-Aliassime is 2-0 all-time against Tiafoe, with his wins coming in the fourth round of the 2021 United States Open (4-6, 6-2, 7-6, 6-4) and the third round of the 2022 Barcelona Open (7-5, 6-4).