No. 3 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime recorded seven aces while knocking off Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Open 13 Provence at Marseille, France.
Auger-Aliassime converted 82.5 percent of his first-serve opportunities in the straight-set win. The Canadian will next face fifth-seeded Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in the quarterfinals.
Top-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Hugo Gaston of France. In other second-round matches, France’s Lucas Pouille edged Moldova’s Radu Albot 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2), ninth seed Benjamin Bonzi defeated fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-4, 6-3 and Russia’s Roman Safiullin was a 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (4) winner over Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic.
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France’s Arthur Rinderknech won 80 percent of his second-serve points en route to a stunning 6-4, 6-4 upset of top-seeded Denis Shapovalov to reach the semifinals in Doha.
Rinderknech saved all three break points he faced while beating the Canadian. He will next face third-seeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, who recorded a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.
Second-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 win over fellow Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Bautista Agut’s semifinal opponent will be sixth-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov, who outlasted fourth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
