ADELAIDE: Felix Auger-Aliassime needed four match points and nearly three hours to beat Tommy Paul 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-4 and reach the Adelaide International final on Friday.

On the eve of the Australian Open, it was a 16th final for the Canadian and puts him one win from a sixth title.

He will face second seed Sebastian Korda, who defeated Serb Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Paul’s loss prevented the American from breaking into the top 10 for the first time in his career.

The semi-final with Auger-Aliassime was marred by more than 90 unforced errors, with the Canadian failing to close out a straight-sets win when Paul won six of the last seven games in the second set.

“I’ll try and recover now for the final,” Auger-Aliassime said. “The match was about physical and mental effort. There were a lot of ups and downs.

“It was not the best level from either of us, but sometimes matches are like that, you have to find a way through.”

In the women’s tournament, top seed Jessica Pegula posted a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over Yulia Putintseva to line up a final on Saturday with US compatriot Madison Keys.

The pair of good friends split their previous two meetings and will meet again on the eve of Sunday’s Australian Open start. They are the first women players from the US to get this far in the Adelaide event.

Pegula will be playing her first final since the US Open last September.

She overcame Putintseva a day after the Kazakh needed more than three hours to win her previous match.

Nevertheless Pegula said she had to stretch to win.

“I was on my toes, I knew she would try and break up the rhythm.

“I tried to play my game, I knew she would be tricky; I got a bit lucky in the tiebreaker.”

Keys, the 2022 champion, won 5-7, 7-5, 3-0 against Liudmila Samsonova to earn a second final at Memorial Drive.

Samsonova, who played with strapping below her right knee, retired after a discussion with the physiotherapist.

“I’m excited to be in another final here,” Keys said. “I was really happy to stay in the match. She played unbelievable at the start.

“It’s not how you want to win [through retirement] but I’m glad I was able to stick around and tough it out.”

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2025