The Canadian Climbs to No. 23 in the Rankings Following His First Outdoor Hard-Court Title
[TORONTO, ON] January 11, 2025 – On Saturday, Félix Auger-Aliassime claimed the Adelaide International title thanks to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over No. 2-seed Sebastian Korda of the USA. The win marks the sixth ATP singles title of Auger-Aliassime’s career and his first on outdoor hard courts.
Auger-Aliassime began his 2025 campaign at the United Cup, where he went 1-1 in singles, notably beating American Taylor Fritz in their round-robin clash. The Canadian carried that momentum into the Australian Open warm-up tournament in Adelaide, an ATP 250 event, earning wins over Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, as well as USA’s Marcos Giron and Tommy Paul, the tournament’s top seed, en route to the final.
On the other side of the bracket, Korda ousted Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic and had a walkover against Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia to reach the final stage of the tournament. Korda was taking part in his first event since the 2024 US Open, having undergone elbow surgery in the fall.
Prior to the championship match, the 24-year-olds had met on three occasions, most recently in the 2022 final in Antwerp, Belgium, which was won by Auger-Aliassime. Today at Memorial Drive Park, the Canadian got off to a shaky but tenacious start, having to fend off four break points in his opening two service games. Despite keeping only 50% of first serves in play, Auger-Aliassime went on to take the opener 6-3 after breaking the American in the sixth game.
The last break point Auger-Aliassime faced in the match would come in the eighth game of the second set, which Korda converted to eventually win 6-3 and send the back-and-forth contest to a decider. Despite the momentum, the American’s hopes of winning quickly faded, as the first-serve woes ended for Auger-Aliassime, who lost just one point on his serve in the third set. The Canadian also had a break point in each of Korda’s three service games, converting on the ones in the second and sixth games.
Auger-Aliassime fittingly clinched his first title of the season with an ace – his 10th of the match and 41st of the tournament.
Not only has Auger-Aliassime defeated three Americans at this week’s event, but this also marked his eighth consecutive victory over a player from the USA, dating back to the 2024 tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, against Maxime Cressy.
Auger-Aliassime now enters the first Grand Slam of the year on a five-match winning streak and will face Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round. If he beats Struff, he will take on Davidovich Fokina or rising Chinese star Juncheng Shang in the second round.
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