NEW YORK — Canadian teenager Félix Auger-Aliassime will play for a boys’ singles Grand Slam title for the second time this season.
The 16-year-old from Montreal edged the top-ranked junior player in the world, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to earn a place in Sunday’s final. Auger-Aliassime, ranked ninth and seeded sixth in New York, was a runner-up at Rolland Garros in June.
Auger-Aliassime fired nine aces and had 32 winners to defeat the 18-year-old Tsitsipas in one hour 45 minutes. He will face fifth-seeded Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in the final.
The Canadian was down 4-1 in the second set, but broke Tsitsipas to cut the deficit to 4-3, letting out an emphatic roar when his opponent’s backhand volley went long to give him the point.
Auger-Aliassime broke Tsitsipas again to go up 6-5 and easily won the next game to take the match.
It’s been a successful year for Auger-Aliassime, who won the boys’ doubles title at Flushing Meadows with partner Denis Shapovalov last summer — the first all-Canadian pair to win a Grand Slam junior tournament in 25 years. The duo also finished second in this year’s Wimbledon doubles final.
Auger-Aliassime competed in the boys’ doubles final later Saturday with 17-year-old partner Benjamin Sigouin of Vancouver.
On the women’s side, American Kayla Day recovered from dropping the first set to beat 16-year-old Mississauga, Ont., native Bianca Andreescu in the girls’ semifinal.
The seventh-seeded Andreescu took the first set 7-5 before the fifth-seeded Day dominated the next two, 6-1, 6-2 for the victory.
