Félix Auger-Aliassime defeated Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-5 in the round of 16 of the Madrid Open tennis tournament on Tuesday, setting the table for a strong duel in the next round.
Auger-Aliassime, 35th player in the world, defeated the fifth seed after just under two hours of play on Madrid clay. He thus increased his career record against the Norwegian to 2-3, signing his first victory against the Norwegian since the first round of the Miami Masters in 2019.
The 23-year-old Quebecer will now meet in the quarter-finals with the tournament favorite, the Italian Jannik Sinner, who barely defeated the Russian Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-3 and 6-3. earlier Tuesday. Auger-Alissime has a perfect 2-0 career record against the reigning Australian Open champion.
The Maple Leaf representative was particularly active at the net, where he won 86% of his points (25-for-29), and he also dominated Ruud 33-17 in winning shots. Auger-Aliassime was also more opportunistic than his opponent in a break situation, converting three of his eight chances, while Ruud was limited to just one break in three opportunities.
He also achieved a decisive break in the 11th game of the second set, after unleashing an unstoppable backhand. Auger-Aliassime then sealed the outcome of the match when he had three match points, at 6-5 and 40-0, by going to the net to unleash a final winning shot.
A little earlier Tuesday, Ontarian Denis Shapovalov and his Kazakh playing partner Alexander Bublik suffered a clear defeat of 6-3, 6-2 against Briton Jamie Murray and Australian Michael Venus in the first round of the tournament. male doubles.
Andy Murray’s brother Murray and Venus are the 11th seeds in the tournament, and they ousted Shapovalov and Bublik after just 51 minutes of play on Court No. 5.
Shapovalov lost to German Alexander Zverev (number 4) 6-4, 7-5 in the third round of the Madrid singles tournament on Sunday.
In the next round, Murray and Venus will face Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh and German Benjamin Hassan. The latter surprised the fourth seeds, the Croatian Ivan Dodig and the American Austin Krajicek, 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the curtain raiser of the doubles tournament.