PARIS 鈥� 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.
鈥淚 just feel like a pitcher who鈥檚 thrown too many pitches, way over his pitch count,鈥� he said.
"Felix just played way too well today. Even if I didn鈥檛 have whatever I had going on, it would have been a tough one to get through, with the way he was playing,鈥�
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
