Felix Auger-Aliassime wins Dubai redemption bid for Daniil Medvedev SF ATP Tour

Dubai

Auger-Aliassime puts Medvedev SF in Dubai redemption bid

The Canadian, who lost to Tsitsipas in last year’s final, improved his record to 11-1 in February

February 26, 2026

Felix Auger-Aliassime has no plans to slow down his sizzling February performance at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The in-form Canadian advanced to his third consecutive tour-level semifinals with a 6-3, 7-6(2) victory over Jiri Lehecka at the ATP 500 event on Thursday. After lifting the trophy in Montpellier and finishing runner-up in Rotterdam, Auger-Aliassime has gone 11-1 this month and is just two wins away from avenging last year’s loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Dubai final.

2025: Finalist
2026:🤔

FAA returns to the semi-finals in Dubai, knocking out Lehka 6-3, 7-6(2)@DDFTennis | #DDFTtennis pic.twitter.com/OJoPp7vUVc

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 26, 2026

The 25-year-old, playing at an ATP 250-plus level event for the first time as the top seed, showed no signs of nerves. He has yet to drop a set in three matches this week, according to Infosys ATP statistics, and he saved two break points he faced against Lehka.

In Friday’s semifinals, Auger-Aliassime will face third seed and 2023 Dubai champion Daniil Medvedev, who leads 7-2 in the Lexus ATP Head2Head Series.

“Our style of play is very different,” said Auger-Aliassime, who went 0-7 against Medvedev from 2018 to 2024. “I’m going to try to step up and he’s going to try to make me miss. We’ll see who can game plan better. He’s better than me…it took me seven or eight takes to beat him.”

The player with the most tour semi-finals (players born after 2000)

Medvedev opened Thursday’s quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jenson Brooksby to reach the Dubai semifinals for the third time in his past four ATP 500 appearances.

The former world number one ended the 2025 season with a string of solid results – including back-to-back semi-finals in Beijing and Shanghai and a title in Almaty – and is trying to return to the top 10 for the first time since June. He kicked off the 2026 campaign with a win in Brisbane and is currently just 345 points behind No. 10 Alexander Bublik in the PIF ATP live rankings.

“There have been times in my career where I’ve been better prepared,” Medvedev said when asked about his recent consistency. “The funny thing is, they say ‘rookies are lucky’. It’s more of that kind of thing. Everything is new and I don’t care… I just play how I feel.

“Now, I have more thoughts in my head that sometimes help me, but sometimes I need to get rid of them to play better. I still know I can be consistent. For example, I was very consistent at the end of last year, and even this year I’m trying to get back to it. So far, this game has been great.”