(Gstaad) Félix Auger-Aliassime reached the quarter-finals of the Gstaad Tennis Open after defeating Yannick Hanfmann 7-6 (6), 6-2 on Thursday.
Auger-Aliassime, the third seed in the tournament, took one hour and 52 minutes on the Swiss clay to overcome the 111th-ranked German.e in the world.
The 23-year-old Quebecer will face sixth seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the next round. Berrettini set the stage for this match by beating Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-4, 6-2 earlier in the day.
Berrettini has a 4-2 career record against Auger-Aliassime. The latter, however, won their last meeting, in the first round of the 2023 Cincinnati Masters.
Auger-Aliassime hit four aces and double-faulted three times against Hanfmann. He also converted three of his eight break points, including the one that gave him the win in the eighth game of the second set.
By comparison, his rival broke his serve just once in six chances — in the second game of the match, to take a 2-0 lead. Auger-Aliassime, however, did not let himself be intimidated, and he gradually regained the upper hand in the match.
“I had a bad start, with the conditions, the wind, the altitude,” commented Auger-Aliassime. “I’m happy to have been able to come back in the first set, that was the key. It wasn’t always beautiful tennis.
I started to serve better after the first game. On the return too, I found the right positions. I tried things in the first set. It was good to find solutions.
Felix Auger-Aliassime
The representative of the maple leaf was particularly aggressive, winning 73% (11-for-15) of the points at the net. Auger-Aliassime also managed almost twice as many winners as Hanfmann (22-13) and he committed 15 unforced errors.
The Gstaad tournament is the last before the Olympic tournament in Paris. The draw for this competition, which will take place on clay at Roland Garros, is scheduled for July 25.