Spoiler:
The Canadian faces Sam Querrey next
Felix Auger-Aliassime saved a set point in the second set on Friday before edging out Ugo Humbert 7-6(5), 7-6(8) to advance to the semi-finals at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart.
The #NextGenATP star hit 17 aces and won 78 per cent (43/55) of points on his first serve to move to 16-11 on the season. The third-seeded Canadian reached the final in Stuttgart in 2019 (l. to Berrettini), as he won eight matches on the grass (8-5) that year. Standing in the way of another MercedesCup final, and an eighth ATP Tour title match is American qualifier Sam Querrey.
Querrey, who is currently No. 67 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, saved a match point at 4-5 in the second set as he ended wild card Dominic Stephan Stricker’s run in Germany with a hard-fought 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-3 victory. Querrey didn't drop a first-service point (14/14) in the final set.
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Elsewhere, top seed Denis Shapovalov overcame Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals before falling to Marin Cilic 7-5, 7-6 (3) later on Friday. The Croatian hit eight aces and has yet to drop a set this week, overcoming Rudolf Molleker and Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first two rounds. Cilic was delighted with his performance after his 100th career match on grass (71-29).
“I felt I was applying a little more pressure during that first set and I capitalised on the couple of break points, which was definitely big, just to give me a bit of extra momentum,” Cilic said. “I also had the two match points at the end of the second set, didn’t convert them, but played a really good tie-break. You always have to expect tough battles against top guys like Denis [Shapovalov] and it was like that today.”
The 32-year-old will face either Alex de Minaur or Jurij Rodionov in the last four, with the pair playing later on Friday.
Felix Auger-Aliassime saved a set point in the second set on Friday before edging out Ugo Humbert 7-6(5), 7-6(8) to advance to the semi-finals at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart.
The #NextGenATP star hit 17 aces and won 78 per cent (43/55) of points on his first serve to move to 16-11 on the season. The third-seeded Canadian reached the final in Stuttgart in 2019 (l. to Berrettini), as he won eight matches on the grass (8-5) that year. Standing in the way of another MercedesCup final, and an eighth ATP Tour title match is American qualifier Sam Querrey.
Querrey, who is currently No. 67 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, saved a match point at 4-5 in the second set as he ended wild card Dominic Stephan Stricker’s run in Germany with a hard-fought 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-3 victory. Querrey didn't drop a first-service point (14/14) in the final set.
How To Watch
Elsewhere, top seed Denis Shapovalov overcame Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals before falling to Marin Cilic 7-5, 7-6 (3) later on Friday. The Croatian hit eight aces and has yet to drop a set this week, overcoming Rudolf Molleker and Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first two rounds. Cilic was delighted with his performance after his 100th career match on grass (71-29).
“I felt I was applying a little more pressure during that first set and I capitalised on the couple of break points, which was definitely big, just to give me a bit of extra momentum,” Cilic said. “I also had the two match points at the end of the second set, didn’t convert them, but played a really good tie-break. You always have to expect tough battles against top guys like Denis [Shapovalov] and it was like that today.”
The 32-year-old will face either Alex de Minaur or Jurij Rodionov in the last four, with the pair playing later on Friday.
