Felix Auger-Aliassime is into the US Open quarter-finals after the Canadian defeated Andrey Rublev 7-5 6-3 6-4.
The 25th seed came back from a break down in the opening set to secure a straight sets win over Rublev.
Despite winning seven of their eight previous meetings, Rublev failed to produce any sort of sustained pressure on the Canadian as he exited the tournament.
Now Auger-Aliassime will aim for a first Grand Slam semi-final when he faces Alex De Minaur on Wednesday.
After a couple of tight service games, it was Rublev who started the match better as he broke for an early 2-1 lead with some ruthless backhands.
For the majority of the set, Rublev remained untroubled with Marat Safin shouting instructions on every point.
After defeating Alexander Zverev the other night, Auger-Aliassime struggled for confidence on return as Rublev was seemingly cruising to the opening set.
However, Auger-Aliassime took advantage of a lapse of concentration from Rublev as the forehand finally turned up as he broke to love to level the opening set at 4-4.
Some entertaining rallies were on show as Auger-Aliassime’s forehand in defensive positions essentially won him this match.
Neither player was backing down as they traded baseline blows but it was the Canadian who controlled his aggression more in the bigger points.
A big break in the twelfth game secured the opening set 7-5 for an assured yet composed Auger-Aliassime.
That continued in the second set with Rublev unable to dictate the longer exchanges in this contest.
Despite creating multiple break points in the opening game of the second set, Rublev eventually faltered as his forehand broke down as he gave Auger-Aliassime the break in the sixth game.
The world number 15 let his racket knows how he felt about the current state of play as Auger-Aliassime showed no signs of crumbling, cruising to a two set lead.
In the third set Auger-Aliassime continued his emphatic level of play as he broke in the opening game before cruising on serve to book a quarter-final meeting with Alex De Minaur.
After the match Auger-Aliassime spoke about his confidence and how meditation has helped his game, “To have a few setbacks, injuries, struggle with confidence, to come back the second time to the quarter-finals, it feels much better and more deserved. I’m soaking up every moment here,” Auger-Aliassime was quoted by the BBC Sport website as saying.
“It’s very important for me, it’s something I’ve added in the last couple of years. In those tight moments you want to come on the court in the right state of mind. There’s a lot of excitement in our world today, but on the court we need to be calm-headed, especially in the pressure moments. For me it’s a routine I have before matches and it helps to calm me down.”
Heading into Wednesday’s showdown, Auger-Aliassime leads the head-to-head 2-1 with both of those wins coming on hard courts.
