By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Photo credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty
NEW YORK—A jittery tiebreaker teetered toward a fifth set.
Then, Felix Auger-Aliassime drew the line.
Auger-Aliassime lashed a pair of crackling forehands down the line sealing a rollercoaster 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-5, 7-6(4) comeback conquest of Alex de Minaur fighting his way into his second US Open semifinal.
A four hour, 10-minute encounter features some sharp shotmaking—and stretches of nervy play from both sides, including four double faults in the first eight points of the fourth-set tiebreaker—but Auger-Aliassime showed its courage that counts in major showdowns.
“I think it was just a lot of nerves today the whole match,” Auger-Aliassime said after reaching his eighth semifinal of the 2025 season. “It wasn’t pretty at all times, but that’s what Grand Slam matches are, you know some days you won’t feel your best.
“I was willing to dig really deep and to do everything I can to stand here right now.”
The 25-year-old Canadian has toppled three seeds in a row—third-seeded Alexander Zverev, 15th-seeded Andrey Rublev and the eighth-seeded de Mnaur—for the first time in a Grand Slam to reach his first major semifinal since the 2021 US Open.
Displaying tiebreak toughness, Auger-Aliassime is 6-0 in breakers at this US Open.
The 25th-seeded Auger-Aliassime will play the winner of tonight’s historic all-Italian quarterfinal—either world No. 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner or 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti—for a spot in Sunday’s 2 p.m. US Open final.
“It’s not over,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There are still some matches to play and the biggest challenges to come. That’s what I live for, that’s what I train for, so I’m going to show up and be ready for my match on Friday.”
Often, Auger-Aliassime matches hinge on his first serve and forehand accuracy. Misfiring on those strokes early, Auger-Aliassime sustained self-belief and rode his serve and forehand to victory in a pressure-packed tiebreaker to end it.
Today, Auger-Aliassime drilled 22 aces and hit 22 more winners than de Minaur—51 to 29—and was at his best under pressure. Auger-Aliassime saved a set point with a 121 mph ace at 5-6 in the second-set tiebreaker and rallied from 2-5 down in the fourth set to defeat de Minaur for the third time in four meetings.
Across the net, de Minaur must be gutted falling to 0-6 lifetime in major quarterfinals. De Minaur was bidding to become the first Aussie man to reach the US Open final four since his Davis Cup captain, Lleyton Hewitt, in 2005.
Though de Minaur took the court with an ATP-best 28 hard-court wins, his first serve let him down today. De Minaur served 42 percent and did not capitalize on his one-break lead in the second set, his 6-5 set point in that second set or his 5-2 fourth-set lead.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just my serve. My serve’s been letting me down in big
matches,” de Minaur said. “I mean, I put myself in and gave myself every chance to extend this match again and be in the fifth set like I did against Novak at Wimbledon. But I mean, it’s pretty tough to win a high-quality match serving the way I did today.
“Yeah, it’s something that needs to improve, because if not, I’m going to put myself into a lot of trouble frequently against the top players in the later stages of these tournaments.”
The Demon never stopped battling, but credit Auger-Aliassime for handling the major jitters a little bit better and playing a bit bolder on pivotal points.
Midway through the opening set, the pair traded love holds. Then, de Minaur made his move.
Targeting the Canadian’s unruly forehand wing, de Minaur drew three forehand errors for the first break and a 4-3 lead.
In the next game, de Minaur denied a couple of break points—with an inside-out forehand and a flat forehand crosscourt—before prevailing in a 16-shot rally to back up the break for 5-3.
Serving for the set, de Minaur again targeted Auger-Aliassime’s forehand and elicited a wild forehand miss down the line to snatch a one-set lead after 48 minutes.
It was a milestone moment for the Aussie: de Minaur, who was 0 for 12 in prior major quarterfinal sets, won his very first set in a Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Two areas of concern for Auger-Aliassime: he committed 17 errors—seven more than his opponent, with several coming off the forehand—and he won only 5 of 13 second-serve points.
Despite serving just 34 percent, de Minaur withstood break-point pressure and stood just two sets away from his first career major semifinal.
Auger-Aliassime saved a pair of break points to start the second set. De Minaur answered with an amazing tweener lob from behind the baseline in game three that prompted an attempted tweener from his opponent in response.
In a draining 22-point game, de Minaur saved two break points holding for 2-all after 13 and a half minutes.
Though the Aussie broke for 3-2, Auger-Aliassime was finding his forehand and fired that stroke to break back and level at 3-all.
Tension escalated in the tiebreaker when de Minaur fought back from a mini-break down for set point at 5-4.
Zapping a 120 mph ace down the T—his 14th ace—Auger-Aliassime erased set point for 6-all. De Minaur saved set point with a body serve for 7-all only to see Auger-Aliassime bolt his 15th ace for a second set point. Running his opponent side to side, Auger-Aliassime drew a netted backhand to snatch an 89-minute second set, the longest set of the men’s tournament, to level the match.
Through two sets, the Auger-Aliassime serve was the biggest shot on the court. De Minaur was going big on first serve but missing many. Dragging a forehand long to face double break point, the Aussie spit up his fifth double fault wide ceding the break and a 3-2 third-set lead to Auger-Aliassime.
The world No. 9 immediately earned double break point in the next game, but Auger-Aliassime stood tall saving both break points, including catching the edge of the line.
In a rare display of frustration, de Minaur kicked a stray ball into the stands as Auger-Aliassime locked down his toughest hold of the set, confirming the break for 4-2.
Pressure ratcheted severely as Auger-Aliassime served for the third set at 5-4 only to cough up a couple of double faults and forehand error as de Minaur broke back. All that good work dissolved as de Minaur double fault to face a break point in the 11th game. Auger-Aliassime create a sharp angle, provoking a running forehand error to score his third break for 6-5.
Serving for the set again, the 25-year-old Canadian cranked an ace down the T for double set point. On his second set point, Auger-Aliassime torched his 19th ace out wide collecting a two-sets to one lead after three hours, 11 minutes
De Minaur broke for a 3-1 fourth-set lead extending to 5-2. Serving for the set at 5-3, de Minaur grew passive and fell into a triple break point hold. A massive forehand down the middle helped Auger-Aliassime score the love break for 4-5.
The fourth-set tiebreaker came down to which man would hold their nerve and serve. Four double faults marked the first eight points of the breaker.
At 5-4, Auger-Aliassime showed guts hitting behind de Minaur with a crackling inside-in forehand for match point at 6-4.
The Canadian cranked one final forehand down the opposite sideline ending a four hour, 10-minute marathon.
