(Lyon) Félix Auger-Aliassime reached the quarter-finals of the Lyon Tennis Open after beating Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday afternoon.
Auger-Aliassime, the tournament favourite, took an hour and 27 minutes on French clay to overcome his opponent, 240th racket in the world. It was the first career match between the two tennis players.
The 22-year-old Quebecer will face Frenchman Arthur Fils in the quarterfinals.
The latter advanced to the round of 16 after his opponent, Sweden’s Mikael Ymer, was disqualified for smashing his racket against the referee’s chair. Ymer lost his temper as he challenged a referee’s decision paving the way for Son’s service break, 112th in the world.
The Lyon Open is the last preparatory tournament for Auger-Aliassime before the start of the French Open on Sunday.
For her part, Leylah Annie Fernandez fought tooth and nail before finally losing 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to American Peyton Stearns, 69th player in the world, in the round of 16 of the Omnium from Morocco.
Earlier on Wednesday, Canadian Carol Zhao lost 6-4, 6-1 to Czech Sara Bejlek in the second round of qualifying for the French Open.
Zhao, of Richmond Hills, Ont., was the final Maple Leaf representative in the French Open qualifying draw.
The day before, Ontario’s Katherine Sebov lost 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 to Croatian Petra Marcinko.
On the men’s side, Quebecer Gabriel Diallo lost 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the first round of qualifying on French clay against Kazakh Timofey Skatov.
Zhao was trying to join compatriots Bianca Andreescu, Fernandez, Rebecca Marino, Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov in the main draw of the second major tournament of the season.
