Felix Auger Aliassime is into the quarterfinals of the Western and Southern Open after beating Matteo Berrettini6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 35 minutes.
The two most recently met at Wimbledon this year and it was the world number eight who prevailed on that occasion. However, this time Auger-Aliassime got his revenge with the help of 14 winners as he capitalised on 31 unforced errors produced by his oponent.
“You play a match you just try to win and it was nothing more than that,” the Canadian said afterwards.
“Matteo (Berrettini) is a good friend outside the court and he’s a great player on the court with great sportsmanship and at the end of the day we give each other our best. I think that’s how we respect each other the most with battling and just trying to win and be competitive.‘
“Today I played a great match and I honestly don’t think he played his best because I have seen him play at a higher level but at the end it’s tennis and there is a situation on the court and you try to do the best with it. I was able to find a way through and happy I did”.
The Montreal native got off to a great start holding his opening service game and earning two chances to get the early break. He ended up breaking to take a 2-0 lead but relinquished his advantage in the very next game. Auger-Aliassime had four chances to break at 3-2 but the Italian did a good job saving them and holding serve. It came down to the world number eight serving to stay in the set at 5-4 and the 21-year-old got the crucial break to take the first set.
Winning the opener motivated the world number 17 and again after holding the opening service game in the second set he broke the Italian at the same juncture as the first set to take an early 2-0 lead.
That was the only break Auger Aliassime needed and he served out the match to set up a date with the world number three Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday.
After the match in his post-match press conference, Auger Aliassime previewed his upcoming match against the Greek world number three.
“We played quite a lot and I won the first few times and he beat me the last few times and he is a great rival and tomorrow is going to be another great battle and from now on its top players and to use that momentum to go as far as I can”. He said.
Tsitsitpas currently leads their head to heard 4-2 with their most recent meeting during the clay-court season in Barcelona which the Greek won in straight sets.
