Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated American qualifier Elliot Spitzri 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the European Open semifinals in Brussels, Belgium on Friday.
Auger-Aliassime sealed the second-set tiebreaker with his 11th ace of the match.
The second-seeded Canadian easily won the first set, breaking Spitzri’s serve twice without facing a break point of his own.
Spitzri proved to be a tougher opponent in the second set and took two set points in the 12th game before Auger-Aliassime secured serve with an ace to tie the score at 6-6.
The United States then led the tiebreaker 5-3, but Auger-Aliassime won four of the next five points.
The 25-year-old Auger-Aliassime, who enters the ATP 250 event as world No. 13, will face fourth-seeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Belgian wild card Raphael Collignon in the semifinals.
Also on Friday, Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., faced Sweden’s Elias Ymer in the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., will face Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the semifinals Saturday morning (Friday night ET) at the Japan Women’s Open in Osaka.
