Heading into Tuesday, Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili hadn't lost a set at the 2019 Miami Open. Thanks to 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime, Basilashvili has now lost a pair of sets, ending the 27-year-old's stay in the tournament and extending the Canadian teenager's impressive run in South Florida.
Auger-Aliassime defeated world No. 19 Basilashvili 7-6(4), 6-4, securing the first berth in the quarterfinals. The young Canadian had to earn his way into the main draw through qualifiers, meaning Auger-Aliassime had already completed five matches prior to Tuesday.
Even having played three more matches than Basilashvili in the tournament, it was apparent that 57th-ranked Auger-Aliassime was the more energetic and focused of the two players, especially in the second set.
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The two men were evenly matched the first set, with each winning a break point. In the tiebreak, the players exchanged points until Auger-Aliassime swung momentum his way with back-to-back aces to lead to the Canadian's eventual capture of the opening set.
Dropping the first set seemed to have an immediate impact on Basilashvili, who had his serve broken in just over a minute to open the second set. Auger-Aliassime then held serve to grab a 2-0 lead, and from there it seemed academic as the Georgian struggled with unforced errors as he tried in vain to fight his way back into the match.
In total, Auger-Aliassime out-aced his veteran opponent 13-4 and committed half as many double faults (8-4) as the teenager looked the more composed of the two competitors.
✅ First Masters 1000 quarter-final
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 26, 2019
✅ First qualifier in #MiamiOpen quarter-final since 2007@felixtennis is continuing to break new ground after beating Basilashvili 7-6(4) 6-4 pic.twitter.com/idoVF9bT4l
Auger-Aliassime moves on to the quarterfinals, where he'll face world No. 13 Borna Coric.