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Canadian men’s singles star Félix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to the Round of 16 at the Shanghai Masters.
Seeded fourth in the annual hard court tournament at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena, the Montreal athlete defeated Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 on Sunday in a match that took one hour, 59 minutes to complete.
Auger-Aliassime will face Casper Ruud of Norway in the next round. The 20th-seeded Ruud defeated 14th-seeded American Learner Tien 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Sunday.
Auger-Aliassime finished Sunday’s match with seven aces, 37 winners, two double faults and 28 unforced errors. Carreno Busta had five aces, 13 winners, two double faults and 21 unforced errors.
The Canadian won four of 13 receiving games and 12 of 13 service games. Carreno Busta won one of 13 return games and nine of 13 service games.
Auger-Aliassime defeated Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 in his opening-round match at the ATP Masters 1000 event.
Alcaraz stunned by Bergs
Zizou Bergs stunned second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz 7-5, 7-6 (4) to advance to the fourth round of the Shanghai Masters on Monday.
Bergs converted his first match point with a ninth ace to beat the tournament favorite in the biggest win of his career. It was second encounter on the tour between the pair and a first victory for Bergs.
After the match Bergs said he has “too much respect for [top players], which is part of my culture and I’m proud of that. But it gets a little bit in the way when you have to play them.”
He added this result can help him change that.
“To have this moment, for me it is a little bit of a relief. I feel like now I really can win against these guys. Not just I can play against them, but I can win against them.”
He hit 24 winners on the way to victory, compared to 16 of his opponent at their round of 32 match in the ATP 1000 tennis event.
Next, Bergs will face Tommy Paul after the American knocked out defending champion Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-2.
Zverev to finish year as world No. 1
The loss for Alcaraz means that Alexander Zverev will complete the year as the world No. 1. Helped by a season-ending injury to Jannik Sinner, the 29-year-old will become the oldest player to achieve the year-end honour for the first time.
Breaking Alcaraz for the second time to take a 6-5 lead in the opening set, Bergs used his fourth set point to serve it out after Alcaraz hit the net.
The 39th-ranked Belgian broke Alcaraz for a 6-5 lead in the second set but failed to serve out the match with the Spaniard breaking back to force the tiebreaker.
Alcaraz, who won last week’s Japan Open, fought back from 4-2 down to tie it at 4 but Bergs then recovered to build two match points. The Belgian only needed one.
“I’m very happy how I handled the tiebreak,” Bergs said. “It’s never easy to get broken when you are serving for the match, but to get back in the tiebreak and play those key moments, serve big, I’m very happy with that one especially.”
Also, fifth-seeded Daniil Medvedev eased past Dalibor Svrcina 6-2, 6-3.
In his second straight victory since being disqualified at the China Open for hitting a spectator in the eye with a ball, Medvedev converted his fourth match point when his Czech opponent sent a backhand volley wide.