(Melbourne) Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime continued his quest for a first Grand Slam title by defeating Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo in four sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on Friday, at the Australian Open tennis tournament.
Auger-Aliassime 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 is now waiting for the winner of the match between Briton Cameron Norrie (no 11) and Czech Jiri Lehecka.
Auger-Aliassime was erratic on serve at times, hitting nine aces while committing five double faults, but he dominated Cerundolo with 38 winners to his rival’s 22.
A little later, on Friday, the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (no 20) will face the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (no 10).
Before Auger-Aliassime even stepped onto the court for her match against Cerundolo, Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and her partner, Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos, 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.