The Montreal native needed less than 90 minutes to dispatch his good friend and book a spot in the quarterfinals.
Felix Auger Aliassime booked his spot in the quarterfinals of the Open Banc Sabadell in Barcelona beating his fellow Canadian and good friend Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 20 minutes.
“Against a player like Denis (Shapovalov) is positive, I was able to do a lot of good things out there and hopefully I can keep that form going”
It was the number 10 seed who got off to the best possible start holding his opening service game and earning his first breakpoint of the match with his powerful forehand.
The number seven seed played a bad service game and would get broken after serving a double fault to give his opponent a 2-0 lead. The world number 20 would break once again to take a commanding 5-1 lead and serve for the set but was broken in the process.
The Montreal native would break right back the following game to take the set in a mere 38 minutes after another double fault from the world number 14.
Between the first and second set Shapovalov called for the trainer and took a medical timeout to have work done on his left shoulder. It didn’t seem to change the game that much as like the first set Auger Aliassime would hold serve and get the early break.
At 5-2 the number 10 seed would have two match points on his opponent serve but the number seven seed did a good job saving both. The Montreal native would get a third chance to seal the victory but once again the world number 14 would deny him the opportunity.
He would save one more match point before holding serve and the world number 20 would serve it out. He will next face Stefanos Tsitsipas after he beat Alex De Minaur 7-5 6-3.
After the match Shapovalov told Ubitennis if he thinks his good friend Auger Aliassime has the upper edge on him on clay being that now he has beaten him in both Madrid and Barcelona.
“He was the just the better player today and I need to play more”
After the match in his post match press conference Auger Aliassime told Ubitennis his thoughts of having fans back in the stands this week in Barcelona.
“Little by little we are seeing tournaments having fans again, I think it gives hope that things are coming back to what we used to have and I hear in Madrid they will have fans too, It’s great to have fans again, I had a great time in Australia and Mexico and I’m happy to see faces again in the stands”
