Auger-Aliassime advances to semi-final in Cologne

Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime is taking advantage of the tournament in Cologne, Germany, to accumulate victories, he who reached the semi-final of the competition rather easily on Friday.

• Read also: Saint Petersburg tournament: Denis Shapovalov advances to semi-final

By dismissing in two sets of 6-3 and 6-0 Radu Albot, a player from Moldova, Auger-Aliassime completed a good day for Canada. Earlier in the day on Friday, Denis Shapovalov and Milos Raonic had their share each reached the tournament four in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Auger-Aliassime, seeded third in Cologne by virtue of his 22nd place in the world, will however have a tougher opponent in the semi-finals as he faces the winner of the duel between Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut and Pole Hubert Hurkacz.

Against Albot, 82nd in the world, the Quebecer overcame some physical problems in the first set to better dominate the rest of the game. Opportunist, he broke his opponent’s serve four times on five occasions.

Victory against Wawrinka

In St. Petersburg, “Shapo”, the competition’s second seed and 12th player in the world, beat Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka in two sets of 6-4 and 7-5.

While we cannot speak of a surprise, it is nonetheless an important victory for Shapovalov at the expense of the man who once held third place in the ATP standings. At 35, Wawrinka is currently ranked 18th in the world, but he remains among the best racquets on the planet.

In their previous duel on the circuit, in 2019 in Rotterdam, Wawrinka had the upper hand over the Canadian. This time, Shapovalov stood up to the Swiss by saving six breakage points on seven occasions during the game. Despite the victory, the 21-year-old Canadian struggled with his second serve.

A Shapovalov-Raonic final?

In the next stage of the Russian competition, “Shapo” will face local favorite Andrey Rublev. The latter is the third seed of the event. The other semi-final will pit Raonic against Croatian Borna Coric. An all-Canadian final thus remains possible.

To reach the four-quarter, Raonic defeated Russian Karen Khachanov in two sets of 6-1 and 7-6 (1). The Ontarian easily won the first set, while his opponent did not seem to be on his plate. The local player regained his ease during the second period, but Raonic took his game up a notch during the tiebreaker.