Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime honored his title of favorite at the Florence Open by reaching the semifinals in Italy thanks to a 6-3, 6-4 win over American Brandon Nakashima on Friday.
With this victory, the 13th player in the men’s ranking overtook the American Taylor Fritz in the race for the ATP Finals, which will take place in Turin in a month’s time. The 22-year-old is now seventh, a position that would see him qualifying immediately for the year-end tournament.
Auger-Aliassime used his powerful serve again to put Nakashima on the ropes. He won 35 of 39 rallies on his first pitch. His 24 winners also made the difference against the eighth seed’s 10.
It had started badly for the “FAA”, which the 21-year-old climber had broken from the start. However, the Montreal native gave him the same treatment from the next game and then didn’t look back.
In the semifinals, Auger-Aliassime meets local hero Lorenzo Musetti (28th). The 20-year-old made short work of his first two opponents in Florence, beating Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals.
The other semi-final is contested by Swede Mikael Ymer (99th) and American JJ Wolf (75th).
Vasek Pospisil advances to the semifinals
In Germany, the Canadian Vasek Pospisil used the elimination of the Ukrainian Vitaly Sachko in the round of 16 to advance to the semi-finals of the Ismaning Challenger.
The 32-year-old athlete, who ranks 122nd, had won the first set 6-3 and was leading 1-0 in the second when his opponent resigned.
Sachko, ranked 312th in the world, was beaten up by the veteran early in the meeting and won just 61% of shots on his first serve. The British-Colombian had seven aces and managed to break his rival once.
Things are going pretty well for Pospisil these days, having gone 10-3 since the US Open. Last week he was defeated in the final of another Challenger tournament in Mouilleron-le-Captif.
The third seed meets the surprising German Max Hans Rehberg (691st).
Diallo passes, Galarneau slowed down in California
At Challenger Fairfield, California, Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo advanced to the semifinals after a long battle that ended in a 7-6 (6) 7-5 straight set triumph over Frenchman Enzo Couacaud.
The 324th racquet in the world, winner of his first ATP Challenger Tour title earlier this year in Granby, used his deepest reserves to defeat his rival, finishing fifth and ranked 184th in the world.
After being broken in the first game of the game, Diallo answered in the second, then waited until the last game before pulling his rival’s sleeve out. A particularly timely break in the 11th game of the second inning then allowed him to continue his journey, who capitalized on his first match point, in the next game when he had the balls in hand.
To reach the final, Diallo must defeat the American Alafia Ayeni, who is ranked No. 550 in the world.
However, the dream of a Quebec-only final was dashed earlier in the day when Quebec’s Alexis Galarneau saw his run come to an end in the quarters.
The 23-year-old athlete, who is ranked 226th in the world, lost to the American Sam Riffice in straight sets 6:4, 7:6 (3).
The latter, ranked 650th, used his first match point to end the debate after just over two hours of play.