Canada's Félix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France tennis tournament with a razor-thin 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (4) win over local favourite Arthur Cazaux on Thursday.
Montreal's Auger-Aliassime, seeded third in Montpellier, was uncharacteristically second-best in the service game.
Cazaux had 12 aces to six for Auger-Aliassime, and the Canadian committed seven double-faults compared to two for the young Frenchman.
The 21-year-old Cazaux, who was born in Montpellier, was also the more opportunistic player, breaking Auger-Aliassime five times on six chances. Auger-Aliassime scored four breaks on 10 opportunities.
But Auger-Aliassime scored a huge break in the third set to come back from a 5-3 deficit and win the match.
The 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime, ranked 30th in the world, will face French wild-card Harold Mayot, ranked 144th on the ATP Tour, in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 indoor tournament.
He advanced to the third round of a tournament for the first time this season after losing in the round-of-16 in Auckland and the second round of the Australian Open.
The 21-year-old Cazaux is set to enter the top-80 of the ATP rankings after he won his opening match over Maximilian Marterer in Montpellier.
He is coming off a successful debut at the Australian Open, where he advanced to the fourth round and upset No. 8 Holger Rune in the second round.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.