PARIS — Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime won his rain-interrupted match Saturday to earn a fourth-round date with Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open.
The tournament's 21st-seed from Montreal was a 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 winner in men's singles over No. 15 Ben Shelton of the United States.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was ousted 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-1 by eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland when their third-round match resumed Saturday.
And Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., fell in her third-round women's singles match 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 to No. 12 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy.
Auger-Aliassime was up 5-4 on Friday before rain suspended the match.
He took the initial five games when play resumed Saturday.
"As the second set started, I felt like my intentions were clear and my execution was right and I was able to do what I wanted to do, and at the same time, get free points from his side and return his serve pretty well," Auger-Aliassime said.
The 23-year-old has never reached the French Open quarterfinals.
To do so this year, he'll have to get past two-time major winner and third seed Alcaraz of Spain in their first clay-court meeting.
"It's as big of a challenge as it gets," the Canadian said. "I feel like I have more and more belief in my game and what I do. I have all the reasons to believe I can win, but we know the challenges. It's a tough one."
Shelton's shoulder pain drained his serve speed Saturday.
“I just feel like a pitcher who’s thrown too many pitches, way over his pitch count,” he said.
"Felix just played way too well today. Even if I didn’t have whatever I had going on, it would have been a tough one to get through, with the way he was playing,”
The match shifted from Court 14 on Friday to Court Suzanne Lenglen, one of two arenas at Roland Garros with a retractable roof, allowing them to play even as showers plagued the clay-court tournament for the fifth day in a row.
Ninth-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Montreal and her New Zealand teammate Erin Routliffe were trailing China's Guo Hanyu and Jiang Xinyu 2-1 in the first set of their first-round women's doubles match when it was suspended Saturday.
Shapovalov trailed Hurkacz 6-3, 7-6 (0), 2-1 when their match halted Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2024.
The Canadian Press
