Félix Auger-Aliassime defeated Jannik Sinner 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the Madrid tournament.
Eighth seed, the Canadian won in 80 minutes against the 20-year-old Italian, 10th seed.
Author of four breaks, two per set, Auger-Aliassime won the final game at zero when Sinner returned service too far.
He also has five aces and won 90% of the points contested on his first balls.
In the quarter-finals, Auger-Aliassime will face defending champion Alexander Zverev, seeded second.
Third-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal defeated Belgian qualifier David Goffin 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (11/9). It took him about 3 hours 15 mins.
A five -time champion in Madrid, Nadal saved four match points.
In the next round, Nadal will face his compatriot Carlos Alcaraz or Briton Cameron Norrie. Rising star, Alcaraz turns 19 on Thursday.
On Thursday, Andy Murray withdrew from his fight with Novak Djokovic due to illness.
The announcement was made shortly before Murray jumped on the pitch against world No. 1
This would have been the first game between Murray and Djokovic since the Serbian won the final in Doha, Qatar, in 2017.
Ranked 78th in the world, Murray, 34, has continued to climb the ATP world rankings since undergoing hip surgery in 2018 and 2019.
The nature of Murray’s discomfort is unknown at this time. However, he said after his victory against Canadian Denis Shapovalov that he was feeling very good physically.
With the effect of Murray’s departure, Djokovic automatically reached the quarter-finals. This is the second time he has done so this season, after losing in the final to Serbia last month.
On the women’s side, Gabriela Dabrowski of Ontario and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico reached the doubles final beating Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine 5-7, 6-1, 10-6.
In singles, eighth seed Ons Jabeur defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 6-3. Another semi-final will see Jessica Pegula face Jil Teichmann.
Source: Radio-Canada
