Canada’s Auger-Aliassime bounced from Cologne Championship semifinal by Schwartzman

COLOGNEY — Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime lost to Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 7-5, 4-6 in the semifinal of the Cologne Championship on Saturday.

Schwartzman will face top-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany in Sunday’s final.

Zverev advanced by beating Jannik Sinner, Italy, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the other semifinal.

It was the first time the world No. 22 Auger-Aliassime had faced ninth-ranked Schwartzman.

The Canadian had four aces to Schwartzman’s none, but also committed eight double faults to the Argentinian’s two.

Schwartzman was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set before Auger-Aliassime won the next three games to force a decider. Schwartzman then broke the Canadian’s serve twice at the start of the third set to put him on course for victory.

Schwartzman said it would be a tough challenge to play Zverev in the final, given Zverev’s strong form over the last two weeks in Cologne.

“He’s the undefeated man so far so maybe tomorrow is the first match he is going to lose,” Schwartzman said. “It’s going to be very tough. He has confidence. He’s playing very good tennis.”

The German team of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies topped Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Philipp Oswald of Austria 6-4, 6-3 in the doubles semifinal.

— With files from The Associated Press.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press