Auger-Aliassime overcomes six match points to beat Paul at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime overcame six match points to defeat Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in fourth-round action Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open.

Auger-Aliassime, the eighth seed, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Masters-level event for the first time.

Elimination looked certain for the Canadian when Paul held for a 6-5 lead in the third set and then had triple break point in the next game.

Auger-Aliassime rallied, however, firing five straight points, including an ace to win the 12th game and send the set to a tiebreaker.

Paul took a commanding 6-3 lead in the extra session, but again Auger-Aliassime responded with five straight points to secure the victory.

Auger-Aliassime fired 12 aces in the match, but struggled with accuracy landing 58 per cent of his first serves.

He broke Paul twice on eight chances, while saving seven of the nine break points he faced.

Auger-Aliassime will next face top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz of Spain. Auger-Aliassime has won all three previous meetings between the players, including a match in Canada's upset win over Spain in the round-robin stage of last year's Davis Cup.

In women's doubles, Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over New Zealand's Erin Routliffe and Chile's Alexa Guarachi.

Dabrowski and Stefani saved the only break point they faced while breaking their opponents twice on five chances.

They will next face Japan's Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2023.