For the second year in a row, Félix Auger-Aliassime will be in the second week of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
The 21-year-old Montreal finished ninth in the third round at Melbourne Park on Saturday, easily beating Britain’s Daniel Evans 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
In the 16th round on Monday, Agar-Aliasim crosses the sword with 27th-ranked Croatian Marin Cilic. On Saturday night, Cilic outscored Russian Andrei Rublev (5th) 7-5, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-3.
This is the fourth fight between Agar-Aliasim and Silik, and the Croatian has won the first three. Cilic’s most recent victory over Quebecois came on the lawn last June in the final of the Stuttgart tournament.
In another men’s singles match, No. 2 seed Daniel Medvedev of Russia defeated Netherlands’ Bodik van de Sandsulf 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. In the next round, she will face American Maxim Grace, who defeated Australian Christopher O’Connell 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2.
The Greek Stephanos Tsitsipas (4th) also needed four sets, beating Frenchman Benoit 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-4. He defeated American Taylor Fritz 6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in 5 sets to defeat Roberto Batista Aguirre of Spain.
In the other fourth round, Italy’s Janic Sinner (11th) and Australian Alex de Minor (32nd) knocked out Japan’s Toro Daniel and Spain’s Pablo Andujara respectively.
On Sunday, in the fourth round, 14th-ranked Canadian Denis Shapovalov will face ranked Alexander Sverre in a fight that did not start before 11pm Quebec time.
More in its place
Agar-Aliasim has reached the second weekend of the Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time in his last five attempts.
The list includes the semifinals at the United States Open last September and the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Open in July 2021.
It is becoming increasingly familiar.
“It’s like everything in life. When you reach new milestones, you do not feel comfortable, or you feel like you’re out of your comfort zone. -Aliasim noted.
The Montreal tennis player escaped two tough matches in his first two matches at Melbourne Park this year. In the first round on Tuesday, he knocked down two sets to one before defeating Emil Ruzouri of Finland in a 3 hour 40 minute match.
In the second round, two days later, it took him 4 hours and 20 minutes to beat Alejandro Davydovic Focina of Spain in four sets.
Evans posed a different challenge.
At the Melbourne Park a year ago, Agar-Aliasim tied Britain 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the warm-up match for the Australian Open.
According to Kubesar, this was his seventh defeat on several attempts in the final match of the tournament (he added an eighth defeat). And for Evans, 30, it was his first career title in the ATP competition.
A year later, though he was still looking for this first title, the Canadian’s maturity was apparent. In a larger situation, this produced a much more positive effect.
“I did not have the attitude I needed (last year). I do not want to. I did not serve either. The state of my game, the person I was then, has no resemblance to where I am today. “
“I am just happy to be free. I know what to do in court. I am ready to face various situations. Today (Saturday) went well for me. I served well from beginning to end. A tight first set, but after that, two good sets. I can not ask for more, ”he added.
In his victory on Saturday, Agar-aliasim made bright figures. He scored 16 runs and made only three double errors. He amassed 40 winners and made only 21 unforced errors.
“Twice wins is a much better ratio than errors. As a player, if you can be in that zone where you can really hit, you can hurt your opponent while keeping mistakes to a minimum – that’s the best,” he noted.
Contributed by John Pie of the Associated Press