Pospisil thrives on first serves to clinch quarter-final berth in Marseille

Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Open 13 Provence tennis tournament after beating his seventh top-60 opponent this year.

Pospisil, ranked 98th in the world, defeated No. 29 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the ATP Tour 250 indoor hardcourt event on Wednesday in Marseille, France.

The 29-year-old Canadian had nine aces and saved all four break points he faced. He won 80 per cent of points when he got his first serve in, as compared to 68 per cent for the eighth-seeded Hurkacz.

Pospisil has enjoyed a strong February. He made it to the final of the Open Sud de France before upsetting world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev last week in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Pospisil will face the winner of a match between No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Mikael Ymer of Sweden in the quarter-finals.

Auger-Aliassime pulls out win in opener

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No. 7 seed, beat world No. 85 Stefano Travaglia of Italy 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-3 in a first-round match later Wednesday.

Auger-Aliassime bumped his ranking to No. 18 after reaching the final last week in Rotterdam.

The Canadian eked out a win against Travaglia, saving nine of 10 break points he faced. Travaglia could save only one of three.

Auger-Aliassime blew a 5-2 lead in the first set, but then rallied from a 6-4 deficit in the second-set triumph to prevail.

The 19-year-old Auger-Aliassime will face France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the second round. Herbert beat Auger-Aliassime in straight sets this month in Montpellier.

Fourth-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., received a bye to the second round and will face Marin Cilic of Croatia.