By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday February 17, 2022
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime moved closer to a semi-final clash at the Open 13 in Marseille.
Photo Source: Getty
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime appear to be headed for a rematch at the Open 13 in Provence. Both players moved into the quarterfinals on Thursday, where they will be heavy favorites. If each advances, a rematch of Sunday’s Rotterdam final will occur in Provence.
On Sunday it was Auger-Aliassime snapping a five-match losing streak against the Greek to claim his long awaited maiden ATP title, 6-4, 6-2. But celebrations don’t last long on the ATP Tour – four days later the Canadian returned to action with a 7-6(3), 6-2 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a player that Auger-Aliassime idolized as a youth, and still does today.
Tsitsipas had to take on France’s generation next and he did so in business like fashion, knocking off Hugo Gaston, the thrillingly creative southpaw, 6-3, 7-6(4) for his tenth career win at Marseille. Tsitsipas, the 2019 and 2020 champion at the Open 13, will face Russia’s Roman Safiulin in the quarterfinals.
Auger-Aliassime will face Ilya Ivashka of Belarus.
Tsitsipas cracked 13 aces and won 38 of 43 first-serve points against Gaston, but he was made to work by the 21-year-old World No.68. Gaston recovered a break in the opening set to get back on serve at 4-3, before Tsitsipas broke immediately back and took eight of the final 10 points of the set to take it 6-3.
There were no breaks of serve in set two, but a perfect tiebreaker was played by the Greek to ensure safe passage.
Auger-Aliassime converted three of ten break points to ease past former World No.5 Tsonga. He was thrilled to finally face Tsonga, the 18-time ATP titlist that he looked up to in his formative years.
“It was a special moment,” Auger-Aliassime said of his encounter with the 36-year-old. “When the match was coming to the end, I knew it was going to be a special moment, a full-circle moment. He was my top idol growing up and I saw myself in him at times.
“The other great players I couldn’t relate to them. They seemed they were from another planet but Jo seemed like a big brother. I told him how much he was my idol when I was growing up and he told me to aim for the stars and not be shy and I can go to the top.”