Felix Auger-Aliassime was left bloodied however unbeaten Monday after he caught himself along with his racquet throughout his 7-5, 6-4 victory towards Francisco Cerundolo on the BNP Paribas Open.
At 2-0 within the first set, the Canadian by accident struck himself on the chin when returning the Argentine’s serve. The 22-year-old instantly walked to his chair the place he was bandaged up earlier than returning to courtroom to ebook his spot within the fourth spherical after two hours and 10 minutes.
Auger-Aliassime, who defeated Pedro Martinez in his opening match, performed aggressive, front-foot tennis all through the conflict. He hit by Cerundolo and overcame a late wobble when making an attempt to serve out the match. After failing to carry at 5-2, the eighth seed ultimately sealed victory on the second time of asking, changing his fifth match level to enhance to 2-0 of their ATP Head2Head sequence.
Auger-Aliassime is chasing his first ATP Masters 1000 crown and maiden tour-level title of the season this week in California. He’s as much as No. 7 within the Pepperstone ATP Stay Rankings following his tenth win of the season.
The four-time tour-level champion has superior to the quarter-finals on the previous 5 ATP Masters 1000 occasions he has performed and can purpose to make it six when he takes on Tommy Paul. The 22-year-old is aiming to jumpstart his season in Indian Wells, after struggling early exits in Adelaide, on the Australian Open and Dubai earlier this yr.
The American Paul continued his spectacular begin to the season when he downed ninth-seeded Pole Hubert Hurkacz 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
In entrance of a energetic residence crowd, Paul demonstrated nice agility, scrambling across the baseline to resist Hurkacz’s heavy ballstriking and advance after one hour and 54 minutes.
“I caught to the sport plan extra within the [second set],” Paul mentioned. “The primary set I do not assume was very fairly tennis total. I performed a sloppy sport at 4-5 and went to the lavatory and gave myself a few slaps and got here out and introduced some extra vitality.”
Paul, who hit 26 winners towards Hurkacz to stage their ATP Head2Head sequence at 1-1, is at present No. 19 within the Pepperstone ATP Stay Rankings after having fun with a optimistic starting to the yr.
Paul reached the semi-finals on the Australian Open in January earlier than he superior to the ultimate in Acapulco. He now holds a 14-4 file on the season, having defeated Jan-Lennard Struff in his opening match in Indian Wells.
Transferring just like the 🌬️‼️@TommyPaul1 with some outrageous defence at the moment 👇
40% #StealScore was 🔑 at the moment.#StealScore calculates how typically a participant has gained the purpose when they’re in defence throughout the level.#TennisInsights | @atptour | @BNPPARIBASOPEN https://t.co/JTw99OAmue pic.twitter.com/OXnHjAOGil
— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) March 13, 2023
