Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open Masters-level tennis tournament Tuesday with an impressive 6-4, 7-5 win over fifth seed Casper Ruud of Norway.
Auger-Aliassime won 78 per cent of first serve points and broke Ruud three times on eight changes, giving only one of those breaks back.
The Canadian picked up a crucial break to go up 6-5 in the second set when his backhand on break point led to a Ruud forced error.
Serving for the match, he came up to the net and smashed a forehand winner on match point to advance to the Madrid quarterfinals for the second time in his career.
Auger-Aliassime is now 2-3 all-time against Ruud at the ATP level. He hadn’t beaten the Norwegian since the Round of 16 of the 2019 Miami Masters.
Auger-Aliassime, a former world No. 6 who entered the tournament ranked 35th, has looked like his old self in Madrid after a tepid start to the season. The Montrealer entered the tournament with a pedestrian 11-10 record on the year, but hasn’t dropped a set in Madrid since the opening of his first-round match against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime beats Ruud in straight sets in Madrid:
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime earned a berth in the quarterfinals with a 6-4,7-5 victory over Norway’s Casper Ruud on Tuesday at the Madrid Open.
It’s also the first tournament this year where Auger-Aliassime has won more than two matches. He improved his career record on clay to 39-33.
Auger-Aliassime will face top seed Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals. The Italian recovered from dropping the first set to beat 16th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
The 23-year-old Canadian has won both his previous matches against Sinner, including a Round of 16 matchup in Madrid in 2022.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime posts Monday walkover win against Czech Menšík:
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime claimed an easy 6-1, 1-0 victory Monday at the Madrid Open after Czech player Jakub Menšík retired due to injury in the second set.
In other men’s action, after two comfortable victories, Carlos Alcaraz was put to the test at the Madrid Open.
The two-time defending champion who is coming off a right forearm injury needed nearly three hours to defeat 24th-ranked Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) in a rematch of last year’s final in the Spanish capital.
Alcaraz ‘fought for every ball’ vs. Struff
The second-seeded Alcaraz squandered four match points while serving for the victory at 5-3, but converted on his first opportunity to seal the victory in the deciding tiebreaker at the Caja Magica center court.
“I wasn’t at my best physically toward the end of the match, but I’m happy that in the end I found my game,” Alcaraz said. “I fought for every ball and didn’t let down despite some difficult moments when things didn’t go my way.”
Alcaraz is trying to become the first player to win three straight Madrid Open titles. He also needed three sets to beat Struff in last year’s final. The world No. 3 will next face seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev at the clay-court tournament.
The 20-year-old Alcaraz had not played in Monte Carlo and Barcelona to try to fully recover ahead of the French Open. He beat Alexander Shevchenko and Thiago Seyboth Wild in straight sets in his first two matches in Madrid.
Top-seeded Jannick Sinner defeated 16th-seeded Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Madrid quarterfinals for the first time. He is the only player to make it to the quarterfinals at all four ATP 1000 events this season.
“I think today was really tough, because at some points he served really well, so it was tough to return,” Sinner said. “I made a couple of mistakes in the first set when he broke me, but this can happen. In the second set I tried to stay focused immediately, I broke him, and the confidence level raised a bit.”
Medvedev tired chasing Bublik drop shots
Elsewhere, third-seeded Daniil Medvedev was given the run around by Alexander Bublik before winning 7-6 (3), 6-4.
“A lot of drop shots, and I got so tired in the end running for them,” Medvedev said. “That’s when you lose your concentration and you start to play a bit worse. That’s what happened, but after the match he told me he was dead also. So, good for me, at least I was not the only one.”
Medvedev will next play record five-time champion Rafael Nadal or 30th-seeded Jiri Lehecka.
World No. 8 Andrey Rublev comfortably defeated Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 6-4 for his third consecutive straight-set win in Madrid.
Francisco Cerundolo, ranked 22nd, upset two-time champion Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-4 for his third career win over a top-five player. Cerundolo has Taylor Fritz next after the American defeated Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Swiatek into 5th semifinal of year
Iga Swiatek came from a set down to defeat Beatriz Haddad Maia 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 and reach the Madrid Open semifinals for a second straight year.
The top-ranked Swiatek was up 4-1 in the first set but the 14th-ranked Brazilian rallied. Swiatek regained control in the final two sets to reach her fifth semifinal of the year.
She will next face eighth-seeded Ons Jabeur, a former champion, or 18th-seeded Madison Keys.
The Madrid Open is the only high-profile European clay tournament that Swiatek has yet to win.