Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime fell short of an Olympic medal on Saturday, losing the bronze-medal match in men’s tennis to Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 at Roland-Garros in Paris.
Montreal’s Auger-Aliassime had previously won bronze in mixed-doubles with teammate Gabriela Dabrowski.
Auger-Aliassime was broken in the match’s opening game, setting up the world No. 15 Italian to claim the first set. But the 19th-ranked Canadian came out flying in the second set, jumping out to a 3-0 lead, momentum he used to carry himself to a 6-1 win.
The third set was tight until Musetti broke Auger-Aliassime in the eighth game and then held serve to claim the medal.
“The last break of serve, the legs gave up a little bit,” Auger-Alliassime told reporters, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “We had some tough rallies throughout the third set. We raised our intensity, we raised our level.”
The world No. 19 last made an ATP final at the Mutua Madrid Open where he lost to Andrey Rublev. He last won a tournament at the Swiss Indoors in Basel in Oct. 2023, beating Polish player Herbert Hurkacz.
However, he’s hoping that this solid result can propel him to a strong finish to close the 2024 ATP season.
“A lot of good things to look back on for me at these Olympics and try to bring all this positive energy into these next events in America,” he said.