THERE was nowhere to hide for Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime who felt the full brunt of an impressive Carlos Alcaraz overnight, going down 6-1 6-1 in the Paris Olympics semi-finals. Alcaraz stormed to the win in just an hour and 15 minutes to guarantee himself a medal, making light work of the North American who had picked up some good wins across the course of the tournament.

Auger-Aliassime certainly had valid excuses, having his mixed doubles semi-final on the same day, and having earned great wins over Top 10 players Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud along the way to be a surprise semi-finalist.

In the match, Alcaraz won a massive 77.3 per cent off his first serve and 78.6 per cent off his second serve, incredibly just one of his three points off the latter was in-play with two double faults. He also served two aces and hit 14 service winners in the victory, and was dominant at the net with 10 out of 11 points successful.

Auger-Aliassime only hit four winners for the entire match while producing 46 errors – 23 unforced – compared to Alcaraz’s 10 winners and 26 errors – 13 unforced – while the Spaniard broke the 13th seed five times from nine chances without facing a break point himself.

“I have to say that yesterday was a really tough day for Felix, playing a really tough match in the singles, playing the mixed doubles as well and finishing late so it was probably difficult for him to rest and he probably couldn’t give his best tennis physically in the game,” Alcaraz said post-match.

“I have to be focused on myself, on my game. I’m really happy with my performance. Probably one of my best in this tournament so far, so I’m really happy with the feeling and hopefully keep going and be better in the finals.”

Alcaraz will head to the Gold Medal match to take on world number two and top seed Novak Djokovic after the Serbian also cruised through to the decider. Having only won one bronze medal from three Olympics semi-finals – finishing fourth twice – Djokovic guaranteed himself a medal for the first time.

In his semi-final against Lorenzo Musetti, Djokovic won 6-4 6-2 in commanding fashion, taking an hour and 49 minutes to get the job done. Djokovic broke five times to two and served three aces to nil through the match, with his higher serving percentage the key (65 to 58 per cent), while winning 67 per cent of his second serve points to Musetti’s 40 per. cent.

“I have been waiting for this for almost 20 years,” Djokovic said post-match. “I’ve played four Olympic games, this is my fifth and I’ve never passed semi-finals. I lost three semi-finals in my first four Olympic games. I managed to overcome this big hurdle. I must be honest and say that I was thinking about all the semi-finals that I lost.”

MEN’S SINGLES: SEMI-FINALS RESULTS

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated [11] Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) 6-4 6-2
[2] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) defeated [13] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 6-1 6-1

In the sole men’s doubles semi-final that took place, Australian duo Matthew Ebden and John Peers shook off a determined early challenge from American pair Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul to deny an all-United States final.

Ebden and Peers had to wait an extra day for Fritz and Paul to win their quarter final, and will now go on to play Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek in the Gold Medal match. Fritz and Paul will take on Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek for bronze.

MEN’S DOUBLES: SEMI-FINAL RESULTS

M. Ebden/J. Peers (AUS) defeated T. Fritz/T. Paul (USA) 7-5 6-2