Felix Auger Aliassime booked his spot in the third round of the Australian Open after beating Aussie James Duckworth in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, 6-2.
The 20th seed never looked in trouble during his 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, victory at Melbourne Park as he fired 38 winners and 19 aces past the local favourite. Auger-Aliassime also impressed behind his serve where he didn’t face a single break point and won 81% of his first service points. The triumph has move the Canadian into the third round at Melbourne Park for the first time in his career.
A great start for the Canadian
After both players held serve for the first four games of the match it was the Montreal native with the first break opportunity of the match by setting up two break points with a superb passing shot.
The Aussie would save both but not before facing a third and the Canadian would convert as Duckworth hit two straight unforced errors to take a 3-2 lead. The world number 21 would serve out the set to take it 6-4.
Continued dominance
Winning the first set the Canadian rode the momentum into the second and had chances to break in the very first game of the second set and would break doing a good job forcing the error from the Aussie to take an early 1-0 lead.
The Monaco resident would hold serve and at 3-1 had more chances to increase his lead when Duckworth would hit three straight errors and he would break as the Aussie volley went wide to take a 4-1 lead.
After holding serve again the Canadian went on the offensive and earned set points with a fantastic down the line winner. He would win the set with a second passing shot winner to take the set 6-1 and was one set away from the third round.
The Canadian Finishes
The third set went with serve until 3-2 when once unforced errors would creep into the Aussie game and he found himself facing more break points. The Canadian would earn the crucial break when Duckworth would send a return out to take a 4-2 lead.
Once again after holding serve at 5-2 he would have a look at two match points on the Aussies serve and would take the match with another impressive winner.
The Canadian will next face the winner of his fellow compatriot Denis Shapovalov or another Aussie in Bernard Tomic who are set to face off later in the day.
