Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime advances to third round of Miami Open

Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada plays a forehand return to Alex Molcan of Slovakia during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

MIAMI -

Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime pulled out a tough 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8) win over Brazil's Thiago Monteiro on Saturday to advance to the third round of the Miami Open.

The Montreal native fired 12 aces and 32 winners, while winning 86 per cent of first-serve points. However, he committed seven double faults, 23 unforced errors and failed to break on all five of his opportunities.

Monteiro had four aces, 19 winners and won 75 per cent of first-serve points. But the Brazilian was held without a break point chance and committed 25 unforced errors.

After much back and forth through the second tiebreak, Auger-Aliassime fired a winner to take a 9-8 edge. An forced error from Monteiro then sealed the win for the Canadian in the two hour, 41-minute match.

In women's doubles action, Canada's Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend of the United States booked their ticket to the second round. The duo defeated Hungary's Timea Babos and France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 7-6 (3).

In women's doubles Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and her partner Luisa Stefani of Brazil lost 4-6, 6-2, 5-10 to American Bernarda Pera and Poland's Magda Linette in a tight match that took one hour, 25 minutes to play.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2023.