Basel (Switzerland): Felix Auger-Aliassime extended his winning streak to 11 matches on Friday when he moved past Alexander Bublik 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals at the Swiss Indoors, here.
In a dominant display, the Canadian fired 28 winners and committed just four unforced errors to advance after 73 minutes.
Auger-Aliassime now leads the 25-year-old Bublik 2-1 in the pair’s ATP head-to-head series and will next play top seed Carlos Alcaraz or fifth seed Pablo Carreno Busta.
“It was a good match. It is so important for me to stay disciplined and focus on my serve. I haven’t been broken in the whole tournament and today was a good effort on staying focused on my serve. I was able to seize a few opportunities,” Auger-Aliassime said.
“The first break was important. To take that pressure off myself from the beginning. It is the best way to start the match. In the past two months, I have been training much better and very locked in and focused on what I need to do and I am trying to put it on display,” he added.
With his 51st victory of the season, the 22-year-old has strengthened his ATP Finals qualification chances. Auger-Aliassime currently sits seventh in the ATP Live Race To Turin with 3,315 points as he holds onto what is currently the final qualifying position.
He is 405 points clear of eighth-placed Taylor Fritz as he seeks to make his debut at the season finale in Turin. If the Canadian wins his fourth tour-level title of the season in Basel, he will move above Andrey Rublev and into sixth.
Auger-Aliassime arrived at the ATP 500 event off the back of consecutive tour-level crowns in Florence and Antwerp. The third seed has continued his imperious form in Switzerland, where he has also defeated Marc-Andrea Huesler and Miomir Kecmanovic.
–IANS