FIFTH seed Felix Auger-Aliassime has won through to the Adelaide International Final after upsetting top seed Tommy Paul in their semi final yesterday.

In a match that lasted almost two hours and 45 minutes, the Canadian ultimately prevailed 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.

“It was a battle. It was about physical effort, mental effort, because it was match with lots of ups and downs,” Auger-Aliassime said post match.

“I feel like it was not the best level from both players but sometimes matches are like this. You have to battle with what you have and find a way through, and I’m really happy I did today.”

In a match full of plenty of aces (15 between the pair), Auger-Aliassime crucially did better than Paul in terms of both first serve in percentage and percentage of points won off his first serve. Auger-Aliassime also served more break points than Paul did.

The win sees Auger-Aliassime reach a 16th ATP level final, but to win a sixth career title he has to get through another American in Sebastian Korda, after the second seed defeated Miomir Kecmanovic in the other semi final.

Korda had a bit of an easier time getting the win than Auger-Aliassime did, only needing about an hour and 20 minutes to ultimately prevail over the Serbian 6-3, 7-6.

The second seed did not face a break point in a match where he belted 13 aces past Kecmanovic. Although the Serbian had a better first serve in percentage, crucially Korda won more points off his first serve.

Heading into the final Korda will be looking to go one step better than he did in 2023, where he had match point before ultimately falling to Novak Djokovic.

ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL ATP RESULTS: JANUARY 10

Felix Auger-Aliassime (5) defeated Tommy Paul (1) 7-6, 3-6, 6-4

Sebastian Korda (2) defeated Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 7-6