Auger-Aliassime falls to Tsitsipas in straight sets at Barcelona Open
Greek star will face No. 11 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy in semis
Felix Auger-Aliassime is out of the Barcelona Open after a 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal loss against No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece on Friday.
The 10th-seeded Auger-Aliassime, from Montreal, has lost his past four matches against Tsitsipas after winning his first two.
Tsitsipas saved all three break points he faced against Auger-Aliassime in the clay-court confrontation.
Auger-Aliassime, who beat fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the previous round, was 2-for-5 in the same category.
"He's a good player. He showed it again today," Auger-Aliassime said.
"He served well the whole match. He was just more solid than me overall I think."
WATCH |Tsitsipas ousts Felix Auger-Aliassime at Barcelona Open:
Tsitsipas won the first big clay-court event of the season last week when he captured the Monte Carlo ATP Masters event.
The Greek star will face No. 11 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy in the semifinals of the ATP Tour 500 event.
Auger-Aliassime is scheduled to take next week off.
Nadal defeats Norrie
Rafael Nadal brushed aside Cameron Norrie 6-1, 6-4 to ease into the semifinals and moved closer to a record-extending 12th title at the event.
After Nadal breezed through the first set, Britain's Norrie won back a break in the second. Nadal, however, took the advantage right back and closed it out when he converted on a second match point by smashing a forehand just inside the line.
"I had a good first set, dominating with my drive and moving the ball around," Nadal said. "In the second set I let up a bit and I need to make sure that doesn't happen tomorrow."
Nadal will next face countryman Pablo Carreno after he won a tightly contested quarterfinal with Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Schwartzman was serving to win the match when Carreno rallied and won three straight games to close it out.
With files from the Associated Press