Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec is in the final eight of the 2022 National Bank Open in Montreal, Quebec on Friday. In the third round on Thursday, Auger-Aliassime defeated Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-3, 6-4.
Auger-Aliassime is the sixth seed and Norrie is the ninth seed. The major reason for Auger-Aliassime’s straight set win came down to the serve. Auger-Aliassime had 15 aces, while Norrie had zero aces. Norrie also had five double faults, including three double faults in his final service game of the match when Auger-Aliassime broke Norrie to go up 5-4 in the second set.
In the quarterfinals, Auger-Aliassime will face the fourth seed, Casper Ruud of Norway. A clay court specialist, Ruud reached the French Open final back in June, before losing to Rafael Nadal of Spain, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.
All-time, Auger-Aliassime and Ruud have beaten each other once head-to-head. Auger-Aliassime beat Ruud in the first round of the 2019 Miami Open, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Ruud then beat Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the 2021 Madrid Masters.
The Auger-Aliassime and Ruud quarterfinal will be the second of four matches in Montreal on Friday. The others have Nick Kyrgios of Australia versus number eight seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, Daniel Evans of Great Britain versus Tommy Paul of the United States, and Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain versus Jack Draper of Great Britain.
