Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime plays a shot against Ben Shelton of the U.S. during their third round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 1, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Jean-Francois Badias
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 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.
Auger-Aliassime, 23, 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.
“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.
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.
