Open 13 2020: Vasek Pospisil into the quarters, Felix Auger-Aliassime passes Round of 32 test

Rudi Schuller

•
Open 13 2020: Vasek Pospisil into the quarters, Felix Auger-Aliassime passes Round of 32 test image

Vasek Pospisil's impressive February continued on Wednesday as the Canadian topped Hubert Hurkacz in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals of the Open 13 in Marseille, France.

Pospisil was dominant against his Polish opponent, hitting nine aces and saving all four of Hurkacz's break-point opportunities. Pospisil double-faulted just once (to Hurkacz's five) while maintaining an 80 percent first-serve winning rate en route to the 6-3, 6-4 victory. That sets him up for a likely meeting with world No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinal round.

It has been a superb month for Pospisil; the 29-year-old from Vernon, B.C., has claimed victories over Daniil Medvedev and compatriot Denis Shapovalov so far. Pospisil opened February with a run to the final of the Open Sud de France — where he went viral for drinking maple syrup straight out of the bottle — before he advanced to the Round of 16 in Rotterdam last week.

Now ranked 98th in the world, Pospisil entered the month at No. 138 and will surely climb even higher after taking down Hurkacz.

FAA outlasts Travaglia

Later on Wednesday, Felix Auger-Aliassime survived a marathon match against Italy's Stefano Travaglia to move on to the Round of 16.

The first two sets between Travaglia and the 19-year-old Montreal native required tiebreaks, with the Italian claiming the first before Auger-Aliassime took the second. It was only in the deciding set that the 18th-ranked Auger-Aliassime dominated, hitting seven aces (of 13 overall) and saving all three break-point opportunities to cruise past his older opponent and win 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-3.

It took over two-and-a-half hours to declare a victor, with Auger-Aliassime moving on to face France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert for a spot in the quarters.

Rudi Schuller