Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime books spot in quarterfinals at Cologne Indoors

COLOGNE, Germany — Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Cologne Indoors.

The third-seeded Auger-Aliassime, from Montreal, beat Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen 6-4, 6-1 in the second round of the ATP Tour 250 indoor hard-court event on Thursday.

Auger-Aliassime, who received a first-round bye, never faced a break point against Laaksonen.

The Canadian won 27 of 30 points (90 per cent) when he got his first serve in.

“When the nerves went away and I started feeling better and serving better and started going for my shots, I felt like I was getting the advantage in this match,” Auger-Aliassime said.

It was Auger-Aliassime’s first match of the fall hard-court season, after he lost in the first round on clay at the French Open.

Auger-Aliassime will face world No. 82 Radu Albot of Moldova in the quarterfinals on Friday.

“He’s quick, he puts a lot of balls back,” Auger-Alassime said. “(The five-foot-nine Albot is) among the short guys on the tour so not the biggest serve but I’m sure he can place it really well. It’s going to be tricky because maybe my approaches are going to come back more than today. Maybe my attack shots and forehands are going to come back more.

“I’m going to have to play one, two, three or more balls so I’m going to be ready for that challenge.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2020.

The Canadian Press