BARCELONA, Spain -- Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime has been eliminated at the Barcelona Open.

The No. 16 seed from Montreal lost 6-1, 6-3 to No. 4 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan in the third round of the ATP Tour 500 clay-court event on Thursday.

Auger-Aliassime won just 54 per cent of his points on first serve, well below Nishikori's 69 per-cent success rate.

The 18-year-old Montreal native had chances, but failed to capitalize on five of six break-point opportunities.

Since Auger-Aliassime and fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to the semifinals of the Miami Open ATP Tour Masters 1000 hard-court event last month, the young players haven't had the same success.

Shapovalov has lost his last two matches, while Auger-Aliassime is 1-2 in the European clay-court season.