Auger-Aliassime advances to semis in Montpellier with win over Mayot

MONTPELLIER, France — Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the semifinals of the Open Sud de France tennis tournament with a convincing 7-5, 6-1 win over French wild-card Harold Mayot on Friday.

After coming up second-best in the service game in his tough second-round win over up-and-coming Frenchman Arthur Cazeaux on Thursday, the third seed from Montreal looked to be back to his old self against Mayot.

Auger-Aliassime had 10 aces, hit into just two double-faults and won 65 per cent of service points in a match that took 79 minutes to complete.

He also faced just two break points. While he didn't defend either, he broke Mayot five times on six chances.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked 30th in the world, will next face second seed Alexander Bublik.

The 23-year-old Canadian has a 2-1 career record against the native of Kazakhstan, including a victory in 2022 en route to his fourth title of 2022 in Basel, Switzerland.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version incorrectly stated that Auger-Aliassime sved the two break points he faced.