Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime erased six match points to defeat Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the fourth round on Tuesday at the Indian Wells tournament.
Elimination seemed inevitable for the Canadiens when Paul took a 6-5 lead in the third set and had a triple break point in the next game.
Auger-Aliassime pulled himself together, however, scoring five points in a row, including an ace, to win the 12e game and send the set to the tiebreaker.
Paul took a 6-3 lead in the ultimate duel but Auger-Aliassime responded again with five straight points to secure the victory.
Auger-Aliassime had 12 aces in the match, but struggled with his accuracy converting just 58% of his first serves.
He broke Paul twice in eight occasions, while saving seven of the nine break points he faced.
Auger-Aliassime will next face Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, ranked first. Auger-Aliassime has won all three previous meetings between the two players, including a game in Canada’s upset victory over Spain in the Davis Cup round robin stage last year.
In women’s doubles, Canadians Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Erin Routliffe of New Zealand and Alexa Guarachi of Chile.
Dabrowski and Stefani saved the only break point they faced, while smashing their opponents twice in five occasions.
They will then face the Japanese Miyu Kato and the Indonesian Aldila Sutjiadi.