Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to play for bronze after loss to Carlos Alcaraz

Felix Auger-Aliassime. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Felix Auger-Aliassime will have to settle for a couple of chances at playing for bronze at the Olympics.

The Canadian lost 6-1, 6-1 to No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in a one-sided men’s singles semifinal on Friday at Roland-Garros.

Auger-Aliassime, seeded 13th, will play the loser of the other semifinal between top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia and No. 11 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy in the bronze-medal match.

Before that match this weekend, Auger-Aliassime gets another shot at a medal with Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles bronze-medal contest later Friday.

The Canadians face Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands.

Alcaraz, the 2024 French Open and Wimbledon champ, took control of the semifinal early with beautiful shot-making.

Alcaraz broke Auger-Aliassime to go up 2-1 and then did it again twice more in the first set. In four previous Olympic matches, Auger-Aliassime lost just one service game.

Auger-Aliassime didn’t have a single break-point opportunity against Alcaraz.

Despite the loss, the Olympic singles run was a major positive for Auger-Aliassime, who has had an up-and-down year. He notched upset wins over Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud to reach the semis.

The 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime was eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon after reaching the round of 16 at the French Open.

Auger-Aliassime is scheduled to play in the National Bank Open next week in his hometown of Montreal.

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