Auger-Aliassime falls to Hurkacz in quarter-finals at Halle Open
Canadian drops pair of tiebreakers in straight-sets loss
Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime is out of the Halle Open grass tennis tournament after a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4) loss to Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in Friday's quarter-finals.
Auger-Aliassime, the fourth seed from Montreal, had 21 aces to six for Hurkacz and hit 38 winners, 16 more than his opponent.
But in a match where both players did an excellent job holding serve — Auger-Aliassime did not face break point, and Hurkacz saved the only one he faced — Hurkacz made the most of his opportunities in the set tiebreakers.
Down 2-1 in the first tiebreaker, Hurkacz won six straight points to claim the set. The fifth seed form Poland didn't trail in the second tiebreaker and forced four errors from Auger-Aliassime.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime eliminated in Germany:
Hurkacz will next face Australia's Nick Kyrgios, who beat Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, top-ranked Daniil Medvedev was strong on key points to beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4.
Medvedev faced nine break points and saved them all to set up a semifinal with German Oscar Otte.
Medvedev started his grass-court swing strongly as runner-up last week in 's-Hertogenbosch. Medvedev won't be allowed to play at Wimbledon, though, because it has barred players from Russia and its ally Belarus over the invasion of Ukraine.
Otte paid tribute to the help of his home crowd after he came through a hard-fought match against Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4. The 51st-ranked Otte will bid to reach his first career ATP final at the age of 28 after a steady rise from being ranked outside of the top 150 a year ago.
With files from The Associated Press
