Canada's Auger-Aliassime defeats Medvedev, advances to Olympic tennis quarterfinals

PARIS — Montreal's Félix Auger-Aliassime wore a beaming smile after his third-round men's singles victory, which only grew wider following his mixed doubles win with Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime not only advanced to the men’s quarterfinals with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over the formidable Daniil Medvedev, but also joined forces with doubles ace Dabrowski to defeat the third-seeded American duo of Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz 7-6, 3-6 (10-8), earning a berth in the mixed doubles semifinal.

The 23-year-old from Montreal clinched his first victory in eight encounters with Medvedev, a Russian competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete in Paris, with a win that took one hour and 38 minutes at Roland Garros.

"Obviously, at the start, sometimes, you are not sure what to expect. It was a tricky first game, 30-30, you are a bit tense, but I was able to get through that with good serving and that kept going," said Auger-Aliassime, who fired nine aces to Medvedev's five.

Auger-Aliassime will play No. 6 Casper Ruud of Norway in Thursday's men's quarterfinal. Ruud defeated Argentine Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday.

Auger-Aliassime and Dabrowski will play Czechia's Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac, who defeated Japan's Ena Shibahara and Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday.

Against Medvedev, Auger-Aliassime was helped by a strong return game and continued to excel on his serve, not giving up any break points to his opponent for the third consecutive match.

"Overall, I think with the conditions being hot, obviously he would make me work. He was serving well as well, I was thinking ‘Look, just take every serve, don’t get too frustrated if you are not getting your chances on the return. If you are missing a few shots, do not get frustrated. Just focus on what’s good, focus on holding your serve’ which I was doing well," he said.

"I think that was the mentality.”

Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, took the loss in stride.

"But it’s OK, it’s tennis. When you lose you are frustrated, but I did not hurt anyone, so it’s OK," he said.

In women's doubles, No. 5 seeds Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Dabrowski were eliminated in the second round, losing 6-4, 6-0 to the neutral duo of Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider,

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2024.