Felix tames the top dog to reach final at Lyon Open

Canadian teen Felix LYON, FRANCE Auger-aliassime is heading to the final of the Lyon Open.

The No. 4 seed from Montreal edged top-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in semifinal action on Friday at the ATP Tour 250 clay-court event.

The win sends the 18-year-old Auger-aliassime into Saturday’s final against unseeded Benoit Paire of France.

Now ranked 28th in the world, Auger-aliassime will ride some momentum into next week’s French Open, the second Grand Slam of the season.

“I came here (to Lyon) because I thought maybe something good could happen because I felt good two years in a row in this city (he won Challenger tournaments across the street in 2017 and 2018),” Auger-aliassime said. “And here I am in the finals, and I still haven’t lost here. It’s been tough matches this week, but I’ve been able to get through every time against tough opponents.”

Lyon will mark Auger-aliassime’s second final on clay this year. He lost in the Rio Open final against Laslo Djere of Serbia in February.

Friday’s win was Auger-aliassime’s second against the 18thranked Basilashvili this year.

Auger-aliassime won 83 per cent of points on first serve.

The win will push Auger-aliassime to 22nd in the world rankings next week.

No Canadian has won an ATP Tour title since Milos Raonic captured a tournament in Brisbane, Australia in January 2016.

Meanwhile, a pair of Canadians will face one another in the women’s doubles final at an event in Nuremberg, Germany.

Toronto’s Sharon Fichman and her American partner Nicole Melichar will face Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan of China on Saturday.