Tennis: Bautista Agut beats Safiullin in Barcelona
he Spaniard, who is chasing his 12th ATP Tour crown this week, will meet seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the second round.
“It’s an amazing win, and I for sure didn’t expect this. Of course you come into the match wanting to win, but Roger was my idol, like many of us growing up,” Auger-Aliassime said after the match.
Canadian world No.21 Felix Auger-Aliassime rallied from a set down to defeat his childhood idol and former world No.1 Roger Federer, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and enter the quarter-finals of the Noventi Open here on Wednesday.
The Swiss ace, who has won the Halle trophy a record 10 times, was being challenged by 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime for the first time. But, despite the age difference — 19 years, as both share their birthdays on August 8 — the Canadian displayed maturity beyond his age to defeat his “childhood idol”.
This was Auger-Aliassime’s fourth top-10 career win and will next face the winner of the match between Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, who had upset world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday in the first round, and American qualifier Marcos Giron.
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World No.7, Russia’s Andrey Rublev powered into the quarter-finals for a second time, defeating world No. 81 Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-4, 6-4 in 86 minutes. He will next face 2011 champion and German wild card Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Kohlschreiber, 37, beat France’s Corentin Moutet 6-4, 7-6(4) in one hour and 47 minutes.
“It’s an amazing win, and I for sure didn’t expect this. Of course you come into the match wanting to win, but Roger was my idol, like many of us growing up,” Auger-Aliassime said after the match.
“It was a huge honour to play him before he retired, and to beat him is something amazing that I will always cherish.”
Fifth-seeded Federer was seeking his 70th match win in Halle, and his 18th quarter-final here.
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