Canada's Félix Auger-Aliassime is moving on to the Madrid Open semifinals after top-seed Jannik Sinner of Italy withdrew due to a hip injury.
"Very sad to have to withdraw from my next match here in Madrid," Sinner wrote Wednesday on social media. "My hip has been bothering me this week and has slowly been getting more painful. Taking the advice from the doctors we decided it’s best to not play further and make it worse."
Auger-Aliassime will play the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal matchup between Russian player Daniil Medvedev and Jiri Lehecka.
It's the first time Auger-Aliassime has reached the semifinals of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament since the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters.
The 23-year-old from Montreal reached the quarterfinals with an impressive 6-4, 7-5 win over fifth seed Casper Ruud of Norway.
Auger-Aliassime, a former world No. 6 who entered the tournament ranked 35th, has looked like his old self in Madrid after a tepid start to the season. The Montrealer entered the tournament with a pedestrian 11-10 record on the year, but hasn't dropped a set in Madrid since the opening of his first-round match against Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.
It's also the first tournament this year where Auger-Aliassime has won more than two matches. He improved his career record on clay to 39-33.
-- With files from the Canadian Press.
