Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime overcame a difficult start to the game on Wednesday. He beat Australian Jason Kluber 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 16 at the Doha Tennis Tournament in Qatar. Leylah Annie Fernandez reached the quarter-finals of the doubles tournament at the Dubai Tennis Championship, along with her American playing partner Bethany Mattek-Sands.
Auger-Aliassime took the measure of the 74th player in the world after two hours and 16 minutes of play. He thus improved his career record to 1-1 against Kubler, after he had surprised him in the round of 16 on the grass at the tournament in Newport, Rhode Island last year.
After a slow start, the No. 9 player in the world rebounded and outscored their 29-year-old opponent 15-4 in aces.
Auger-Aliassime was superior in almost every category on serve, in addition to breaking Kubler three times in six occasions during the match. On the other hand, the Australian has stolen the service of the representative of the maple leaf only once in five opportunities.
In addition, the 22-year-old tennis player demonstrated his superiority from the back of the court, with more than double the winning shots (39-18) of Kubler.
In the next round, the second seed will have an appointment with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 31st player in the world. The Spaniard set the stage for this clash by eliminating South Korean Soonwoo Kwon 6-3, 6-2.
Fernandez advances in doubles
In Dubai, Quebec’s Leylah Annie Fernandez and her American partner Bethany Mattek-Sands came from behind to defeat China’s Xu Yifan and Russia’s Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3-6, 6-1 and 13-11 after one hour. and 26 minutes.
They will now face the Russian duo of Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova, who defeated Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos and China’s Shuai Zhang 6-4, 6-2.
The day before, Fernandez saw her singles run in Dubai come to an abrupt end after she fell sharply 6-1, 6-1 in the second round to the no. World 1 Iga Swiatek.
For her part, Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu was ousted in the first round 6-3, 6-4 by Kazakh Elena Rybakina on Monday. Elsewhere, Swiatek reached the quarter-finals by beating Samsonova 6-1, 6-0.
The 21-year-old Pole will now face ex-world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, who continued after beating Anhelina Kalinina 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-2.
Swiatek, the holder of three career Grand Slam titles, has won her last five games — including the Qatar Open final last week.
American Madison Keys will meet her compatriot Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals. Keys defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-1, while Gauff benefited from the retirement of Australian Open finalist Rybakina with a lower back injury.