Cincinnati –
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ontario advanced to the third round of the Western & Southern Open Masters tennis tournament on Wednesday with victories.
Auger-Aliassime, the seventh seedling, advanced easily in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
Shapovalov later joined his friend and compatriot in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over American Tommy Paul. Next, Shapovalov will be world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Russia.
Auger-Aliassime overcame 17 unforced errors and won 71 percent of serve points and 48 percent of return points in a match that lasted an hour and 18 minutes.
It was the first meeting on the ATP Tour between Auger-Aliassime and world No. 20 de Minaur. They split two Challenger-level matches, with Auger-Aliassime winning in the quarterfinals of a 2017 tournament in Drummondville, Que., and de Minaur coming out on top in the quarterfinals in Braga, Portugal the next year.
Auger-Aliassime had nine aces to three for de Minaur in Wednesday’s match, converting four of his six break points while saving three of four break points.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked ninth in the world, bounced back after a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open in Montreal last week.
“I never thought it would end like this today,” he said after the game.
Auger-Aliassime next meets 10th seed Janik Sinner of Italy, who led 7-5, 3-1 against Miomir Kecmanovic as the Serb retired.
Auger-Aliassime defeated Sinner in their only other clash in the round of 16 of the clay-court Madrid Masters earlier this year.
Shapovalov had 10 double faults and 30 unforced faults in his match. But he got timely breaks when he needed them, including a crucial break in Game 2 of the third set.
It was Shapovalov’s first win against Paul. The American had previously won two matches against himself, including the final of a 2021 tournament in Stockholm.
Shapovalov is 2-2 with Medvedev in four previous games, with the Russian winning the last two games. They haven’t faced each other since Medvedev’s 6-4, 6-0 at the Laver Cup in September 2021.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 17, 2022.