Music: {allcanada} Felix Auger-Aliassime defeats Norrie to reach quarterfinals at National Bank Open

Thursday, August 11, 2022

{allcanada} Felix Auger-Aliassime defeats Norrie to reach quarterfinals at National Bank Open

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MONTREAL — Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the quarterfinals at the National Bank Open on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Britain's Cameron Norrie at IGA Stadium.

Norrie had three double-faults in his final service game. The sixth-seeded Auger-Aliassime went on to break his serve before closing out the 72-minute match with an ace.

Earlier in the day, fourth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway posted a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain. Auger-Aliassime will play Ruud, the highest seed left in the singles draw, in the next round.

Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece all lost their opening matches on Wednesday.

The ninth-seeded Norrie beat the Montrealer in the semifinals last week in Los Cabos, Mexico. It was his first victory over Auger-Aliassime in five tries on the ATP Tour.

There was a clear home-court advantage this time around as the crowd let out a roar as soon as Auger-Aliassime was pictured on the stadium screens for his walk through the tunnel to centre court.

The last Canadian in the field at the Masters 1000 event, Auger-Aliassime's serve was menacing under the late-afternoon sun.

He put the pressure on with Norrie serving at 3-4, coming to the net at 30-30 and making a series of volleys that had the Brit running from side to side.

Auger-Aliassime took the point and delivered an emphatic fist pump to the crowd's delight. Norrie was long on the following break point and Auger-Aliassime served it out for the set.

At 4-4 in the second set, the left-handed Norrie may have been bothered by the piercing sunlight as he made fault after fault. When he did get the ball in, Auger-Aliassime kept the pressure on and a Norrie unforced error provided the key break.

Auger-Aliassime had 15 aces on the day and posted a first-serve percentage of 85 per cent. Norrie did not have an ace and landed 73 per cent of his first serves.

In another early result, Poland's Hubert Hurkacz outlasted Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (3). Nick Kyrgios was to play fellow Australian Alex de Minaur on the main secondary court in the early evening.

Kyrgios entered with wins in 14 of his last 15 matches, including a victory over Medvedev on Wednesday. Medvedev won the tournament last year in Toronto.

Seventh-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner was to meet Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta in the evening.

Gael Monfils of France was scheduled to play British qualifier Jack Draper and No. 13 Marin Cilic of Croatia was to play American Tommy Paul.

The Ruud-Bautista Agut match was completed over four hours after its initial start time. Mid-afternoon thunderstorms caused a delay of just over an hour.

Play continues at the US$6.57-million tournament through Sunday.

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