Alex Molcan of Slovakia saved two match points Thursday and outlasted No. 1 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7) in the second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II at Marrakech, Morocco.
Auger-Aliassime led 6-5 in the third set and had a match point, but Molcan battled back to force the tiebreaker. Molcan took a 6-5 lead in the tiebreaker before Auger-Aliassime stopped him with two straight points for another match point. Down 7-6, Molcan won three straight points to clinch the match.
Molcan saved eight of 12 break points overall while Auger-Aliassime saved six of nine. The Canadian had seven aces but was hindered by 10 double faults.
In the quarterfinals Molcan will face Botic van de Zandschulp. The Dutch sixth seed was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva.
Belgium’s David Goffin earned his 300th career match win by defeating Spain’s Pablo Andujar 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3. France’s Richard Gasquet, Argentina’s Federico Coria and Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena were also winners Thursday.
U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship
American sixth seed Frances Tiafoe won a two-hour, 40-minute marathon over Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the second round Thursday at Houston.
Tiafoe fired 11 aces with only one double fault and won 79.7 percent (51 of 64) of his first-service points. Cuevas stayed in the match by saving five of eight break points and breaking Tiafoe’s serve three times in five opportunities.
Fifth seed Cristian Garin of Chile also used three sets to advance, beating Australia’s Jordan Thompson 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Garin next will meet second-seeded American Taylor Fritz, who topped Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo 6-1, 6-4. Tiafoe’s next foe will be countryman John Isner, the fourth seed, who squeaked past another U.S. player, Steve Johnson, 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-3.
–Field Level Media
