Montreal’s own Felix Auger-Aliassime soared into the semifinals of the European Open tennis tournament, triumphing over American qualifier Eliot Spizzirri with a score of 6-2, 7-6 (6) on Friday in Brussels, Belgium.
Auger-Aliassime sealed the second-set tiebreaker with a powerful serve, marking his 11th ace of the match.
The second-seeded Canadian displayed dominance in the first set, breaking Spizzirri’s serve twice while staying strong and not facing any break points himself.
Spizzirri turned up the heat in the second set, challenging Auger-Aliassime fiercely and earning two set points in Game 12. However, Auger-Aliassime responded with an ace to level the score at 6-6.
Despite being down 3-5 in the tiebreak, Auger-Aliassime rallied, claiming four of the next five points to clinch victory.
Now 25 years old and ranked 13th in the world entering this ATP 250 event, Auger-Aliassime is set to face either fourth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina from Spain or Belgian wild-card Raphael Collignon in the semifinals.
In another matchup on Friday, Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ont., was due to compete against Sweden’s Elias Ymer in the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open.
Meanwhile, at the Japan Women’s Open in Osaka, Leylah Fernandez from Laval, Que., was gearing up to take on Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the semifinals Saturday morning (Friday night ET).
