Casper Ruud beats Felix to enter Canadian Open SFs

MONTREAL: Casper Ruud reached his third ATP Masters 1000 semi-final of the season Friday after he defeated hometime favourite Felix Auger-Aliassime in the National Bank Open quarterfinals.

The fourth seed recovered from dropping serve in the opening game as he closed out the match 6-1, 6-2 in 74-minute in Montreal.

“It was one of those days where everything goes in one favour and luckily it was in my favour. With a player like Felix, you need to rely on some margins going your way. I didn’t expect them to all go on my side,” Ruud said in his on-court interview.

“It was a bit of a difficult start. I got broken but then was able to turn everything around. I hit my spots, made the shots I needed to and make him hit a lot of balls. That was the game plan and it worked well,” he added.

“I am sure Felix has played better than he has today. He has for sure, I have seen it before. It is a pity because he is playing at home. Maybe that was a factor, you could be nervous, but I am not going to talk to Felix. It was a big moment. This arena was full today and I am lucky I was able to win,” Ruud said.

On the other hand, Hubert Hurkacz ended Nick Kyrgios’ winning streak at the tournament as he clinched the match to enter the semi-final on Friday in Montreal.

Hurkacz delivered powerful blows from his own strings to advance after one hour and 46 minutes and improve clinch the victory7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-1.

“Nick has been playing some incredible tennis throughout the past weeks, so it is a pleasure playing against him,” Hurkacz said in his on-court interview.

“I hope the fans enjoyed it as well, but I am happy with the result in the end. I started really well. Nick was maybe a little bit injured, which might have hurt his serve. With both of us serving so well, that few per cent can make the difference,” Hurkacz added.