Cincinnati – Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime got off to a good start at the Western & Southern Open by defeating Australian Alex de Minaur in straight sets 6-3 6-2 on Wednesday.
Auger-Alessem, who came back from a quarter-final appearance at the National Bank Open, took just 78 minutes to defeat de Minaur and advance to the third round in Cincinnati.
Seventh seed Auger-Aliassime is now waiting for the winner of the match between Italian Yannick Sener (No. 10) and Serbian Miomir Kikmanovic. This confrontation will take place shortly on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old Kipker had nine aces during a duel against the Australian and won 82 percent of his points on the first serve. He crushed his opponent four times, including three in the second set.
It was the first match between Auger-Aliassime and de Minaur on the ATP Tour. They both won a showdown at Challenger level.
Ontario’s Denis Shapovalov, who was eliminated by De Minaur in Montreal, faces American Tommy Ball on Wednesday. Paul has won his last two matches against Shapovalov, including the 2021 Stockholm Championship final.
Murray is frustrated with Nouri
Cameron Norrie, 11th in the world and final in Los Cabos two weeks ago, qualified for the round of 16 by dropping 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Andy Murray (47th place).
He will face either Britain’s Norwegian Casper Rudd (fifth), who reached the semi-finals in Montreal last week, or American Ben Shelton (229), who took advantage of the pass.
In search of a third title in 2022 after the one obtained at Delray Beach in Lyon, Nouri had to be patient to contain his compatriot, who had a very convincing start and rewarded him with a first set win.
Released from the start in Washington and Montreal, Murray already showed his best on Monday in Ohio, defeating returning Swiss Stan Wawrinka after a marathon match, 7-6, 5-7, 7-5.
But he broke at 4-3 in the second set, immediately lost, and then another match started.
Murray, who continues his quest to return to the highest level, which led him to two finals this year in Sydney and Stuttgart, three chances to smash his opponent 3-2, but did not materialize.
Suffering from cramps, the 2008 and 2011 championship winner was physically ticked and Nouri took the opportunity to take the serve at 4-4, before wrapping up his first match point in 2:38.