Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime’s run at the Paris Olympics will continue after defeating No. 6 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals of men’s tennis singles.
The 23-year-old advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 victory over the Norwegian in two hours and 47 minutes.
He is set to face Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Tommy Paul of the U.S. in their quarterfinal 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Auger-Aliassime’s latest win means the door is still open for him to be a double medallist in Paris, after also earning a berth in the mixed doubles semifinal with teammate Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa.
Auger-Aliassime and Dabrowski will play Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac later today.
No. 1 Iga Swiatek loses to Zheng Qinwen of China
Iga Swiatek knew she was capable, or at least should be, of winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. She’s ranked No. 1, after all. Owns five Grand Slam titles, including four on the red clay courts at Roland Garros, which hosts the French Open and is being used for Summer Games matches.
Her semifinal opponent, Zheng Qinwen, says she knew she was capable of beating Swiatek. Just never had done it. Was 0-6 head-to-head before Thursday. So, really, she was only hoping she could do it. And, most of all, hoping she could secure the first singles medal for China in tennis since the sport returned to the Olympics in 1988.
Zheng managed to make it happen, eliminating Swiatek 6-2, 7-5 and earning the right to play for gold on Saturday, then falling on her back and caking her red-and-yellow uniform with the rust-coloured clay.
“It really does mean everything. I always knew I could do it. But it’s different (if) you know you can — and you show it. And today, I really showed it,” said the 21-year-old Zheng, whose best career result was reaching the final of the Australian Open in January before losing to Aryna Sabalenka.
“I’m so proud of myself,” she added. “I’m so proud for my country.”
Alcaraz moves on
Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest man to reach the singles semifinals at a Summer Games since Novak Djokovic in 2008 by getting past Tommy Paul of the U.S. 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Alcaraz is a 21-year-old Spaniard who is just a few days older than Djokovic was 16 years ago in Beijing.
Those trophies raised his Grand Slam trophy count to four. As it is, he was the youngest man with a major championship on hard, grass and clay courts. In 2022, he became the first teenager to reach No. 1 in the ATP rankings, getting there after winning the U.S. Open.
And so on.
In another quarterfinal, Tokyo Games gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany lost to Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 7-5, 7-5.
“One of my best matches, so far, of my career,” said the 22-year-old Musetti, who reached his first major semifinal at Wimbledon last month.
