Auger-Aliassime tops Bublik to set up Swiss Indoors semifinal with world No. 1 Alcaraz
Canada's Shapovalov reaches Vienna Open semis, Marino falls to Linette in Mexico
Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Alexander Bublik 6-2, 6-3 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament.
The 22-year-old Montreal native, seeded third in the tournament, broke the Kazakh's serve in the first game of the match and easily won the opening set.
Bublik, ranked 38th in the world, offered better opposition in the second set, but eventually went down in defeat in a match that lasted just an hour and 11 minutes.
"It was a good match. It is so important for me to stay disciplined and focus on my serve," said Auger-Aliassime. "I haven't been broken in the whole tournament and today was a good effort on staying focused on my serve. I was able to seize a few opportunities. The first break was important. To take that pressure off myself from the beginning. It is the best way to start the match."
WATCH l Auger-Aliassime defeats Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik 6-2, 6-3:
Auger-Aliassime has now won 11 straight matches. He entered the Swiss event following back-to-back wins at tournaments in Florence and Antwerp.
The Canadian fired 10 aces and didn't allow Bublik a single break point. Auger-Aliassime hammered 28 winners against only four unforced errors.
Auger-Aliassime will next play world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Saturday's semifinal. Alcaraz downed fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-4 on Friday.
Shapo into semis of Vienna Open
Canada's Denis Shapovalov knocked off Britain's Dan Evans in straight sets Friday to claim a semifinal spot at the Vienna Open.
Shapovalov fired seven aces and surrendered none en route to a dominating 6-3, 6-3 victory.
WATCH l Canada's Shapovalov makes quick work of Britain's Evans:
The 23-year-old Richmond Hill, Ont., native won 86 per cent of his first serves and converted three of 16 break points. Evans failed on all four of his chances to break Shapovalov's serve.
Shapovalov will play Croatia's Borna Coric in the semifinal on Saturday. The two men have met three times before on the ATP Tour with Coric winning two of those matches.
Russia's Daniil Medvedev, the tournament's top seed, will face Bugaria's Grigor Dimitrov in the other semifinal.
Marino loses tough semifinal match against Linette
Rebecca Marino's great run at the Abierto Tampico WTA 125 tournament is over.
The Vancouver athlete lost a tough three-set battle — 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 — to Magda Linette of Poland in a singles semifinal match that took two hours, 24 minutes to play on Friday night in Tampico, Mexico.
Marino had five aces compared to Linette's two, but Linette fared better on saving break points and scoring off her first serve.
Linette advances to the final against Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy.
Rebecca Marino reached the semis by upsetting Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 6-3 in their all-Canadian quarter-final clash on Thursday.
