"I feel better than my best year in 2022": Felix Auger-Aliassime poised to shake up ATP Finals race

Attention ATP Finals contenders: Felix Auger-Aliassime is feelng really good about where he is right now.

The Canadian’s latest performance against fellow Race to Turin hopeful Lorenzo Musetti at the Shanghai Rolex Masters Wednesday just may be a sign of what to look for over the next month.

Auger-Aliassime could do little wrong against the Italian, pulling away for a 6-4, 6-2 victory in the round of 16. The No. 12 seed is yet to drop a set in his opening three matches and has been broken just once along the way in his best effort to date at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena.

I feel better than my best year in 2022.

From 2-2, the match belonged to Auger-Aliassime. On his second break point, he punished his opponent’s short ball with an inside-out forehand winner. He then recovered from 0-40 to deny Musetti his three looks at breaking in the contest—two with outright winners—to consolidate.

In the second set, Auger-Aliassime swept the final four games to sail through to his 10th quarterfinal of the season. All in all, Auger-Aliassime produced 24 winners to 17 unforced errors and went 20 for 25 at the net. In fitting fashion, he sunk the eighth seed with back-to-back aces.

“I felt like I was playing fast but I seeing the game slow. It’s weird, you get these type of nights. I’ve been trying to work my way there,” he told ATP Media afterwards.

“To execute it live on a match court at this stage against an opponent like this is different story than a practice. I’m very pleased because to play like this, it means things are coming along nicely.”

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Auger-Aliassime is playing his first tournament since reaching a second US Open semifinal—and tying the knot with Nina Ghaibi in Morocco. While the Montréal native opened 2025 by winning a pair of ATP 250 trophies in the three appearances that followed the United Cup, consistent early exits at the first three majors and Masters 1000 events prior to Flushing Meadows left him at No. 18 in the ATP Finals race.

Three years ago during the autumn indoor swing, Auger-Aliassime memorably went on a 16-match win streak resulting in three consecutive titles to vault himself into a well-earned Turin debut. Are we currently watching the sequel being written?

“I feel better than my best year in 2022. I don’t want to project myself too far or anything,” he asserted.

A title run in Shanghai would enable Auger-Aliassime to overtake Musetti for No. 8. He can shave off another 200 points in his 530-point gap with this year's Roland Garros semifinalist by advancing past Arthur Rinderknech in his next encounter.

No matter how the rest of this week goes, one has to like Auger-Aliassime’s chances to end up amongst the final eight-man field at Inalpi Arena come November. For all but one of his seven career titles have come on indoor hard courts.