'Not always beautiful tennis,' but Felix sets Gstaad QF with Berrettini
pThird seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/felix-auger-aliassime/ag37/overview'Felix Auger-Aliassime/a is up and running at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/gstaad/314/overview'EFG Swiss Open Gstaad/a, where on Thursday the Canadian defeated 2017 finalist a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/yannick-hanfmann/h997/overview'Yannick Hanfmann/a 7-6(6), 6-2./p
pAuger-Aliassime is into his fourth quarter-final of the season, three of which have come on clay, including a runner-up finish in Madrid. The World No. 18 in the PIF ATP Rankings is seeking his maiden title on that surface. /p
pA slow start was not enough to deter the 23-year-old, who raised his level after erasing three set points in the opening set. Auger-Aliassime saved a set point on serve at 4-5 and again at 5-6 before gaining the advantage in the first-set tie-break, during which he trailed 1/4 and won three consecutive points from 5/6./p[ATP APP]
p"It was a tough start from me. With the conditions, the wind, the altitude. I was glad I was able to come back in the first set, that was key," Auger-Aliassime said. "It was not always beautiful tennis. Sometimes big mistakes on both sides, but in the end to get that one was crucial for me today./p
p"I started serving better after my first game. Returning also, finding the right position. I was testing things out in the first set... It was good to come back. It was good to find solutions."/pblockquote class="twitter-tweet"p lang="en" dir="ltr"Came out of the dust with a win ????????????????brAnother one up tomorrow ????????brbr????: a href="https://twitter.com/SwissOpenGstaad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@SwissOpenGstaad/a a href="https://t.co/OTMl7Rd5Oy"pic.twitter.com/OTMl7Rd5Oy/a/pmdash; Félix AugerAliassime (@felixtennis) a href="https://twitter.com/felixtennis/status/1814010177428865332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"July 18, 2024/a/blockquote script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script
pUp next for the five-time tour-level titlist is sixth seed and 2018 champion a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/matteo-berrettini/bk40/overview'Matteo Berrettini/a, who raced past a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniel-elahi-galan/ge33/overview'Daniel Elahi Galan/a 6-4, 6-2. The Italian leads Auger-Aliassime 4-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with Friday's encounter marking their first match on clay./p
pBrazilian qualifier a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/gustavo-heide/h0du/overview'Gustavo Heide/a earned his first Top 50 victory by upsetting second seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ugo-humbert/hh26/overview'Ugo Humbert/a 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3. Heide, 22, is into his first tour-level quarter-final and will next face fellow qualifier a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/quentin-halys/hb64/overview'Quentin Halys/a, who overcame a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lukas-klein/ki63/overview'Lukas Klein/a 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-4.nbsp;/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p