(Melbourne) Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime continued his quest for a first Grand Slam title on Friday in Melbourne, but his fellow Canadian, Ontarian Denis Shapovalov, did not have the same success.
Auger-Aliassime defeated Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo in four sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 at the Australian Open.
The Quebecer needed two hours and 35 minutes to defeat Cerundolo and reach the fourth round of the tournament for a third consecutive year.
Sixth seed in Melbourne, Auger-Aliassime struggled a little less than in his second-round duel against Slovak Alex Molcan, who took the lead two sets to nil before seeing the Quebecer triumph in five sets.
Auger-Aliassime will face the Czech Jiri Lehecka in the next round, who earlier Friday triumphed over Briton Cameron Norrie, 11e first in the series.
As for Denis Shapovalov, 20e seeded in the tournament, he was eliminated by tenth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who prevailed in five sets, 7-6 (3), 6-4, 1-6, 4-6 and 6-3.
The Ontarian committed 13 double faults during the game, compared to seven for his Polish opponent.
PHOTO DITA ALANGKARA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hubert Hurkacz and Denis Shapovalov
In the next round, Hubert Hurkacz will face the winner of the third-round duel between American Sebastian Korda and Russian Daniil Medvedev on Friday.
Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and her partner, Mexican Giuliana Olmos, meanwhile advanced to the second round in women’s doubles.
The pair defeated American Shelby Rogers and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 1:36.
Meanwhile, Quebecer Leylah Fernandez and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands were eliminated 7-6 (5), 4-6, 3-6 by Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and China’s Zhang Shuai in their first round match. round.
Dabrowski and Olmos had three aces and only one double fault in addition to winning 73% of the rallies on their first serves. In return, they broke five times in nine occasions.
The pair, seeded third, had 25 winners against 21 for their opponents.
After winning the first set, Fernandez and Mattek-Sands crumbled following a strong start to the second set.
The duo won the first four games of the second set, but Haddad Maia and Zhang opened the machine to win the next six games and force a final round.
Haddad Maia and Zhang kept their momentum going by winning three of the first four games, keeping Fernandez and Mattek-Sands at bay.