Indian Wells: Felix Auger-Aliassime secures place in Last-16 for first time, will face Tommy Paul next

Felix Auger-Aliassime secured his place in the Last-16 of Indian Wells with a straight-sets win over Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo. Auger-Aliassime, the eighth seed, was the heavy favourite against Cerundolo but it was nip and tuck in the first set with the Canadian breaking first — in the very first game — but then seeing his advantage taken back by the dogged Cerundolo, who forged ahead at 5-4.

Ad But the Argentinian was to win no further games in the set, as Auger-Aliassime found his rhythm to reel off three straight games. ATP RotterdamMedvedev defeats Auger-Aliassime to reach Rotterdam semi, Dimitrov wins thriller17/02/2023 AT 19:04 The second set looked like it was going to be an altogether more straightforward affair for Auger-Aliassime, as he broke his opponent twice, the second time to go 5-2 up and the match seemingly at his mercy.

However Cerundolo battled on, rescuing what seemed a lost cause, bringing the score back to 5-4 and forcing multiple break points on the Canadian's serve. Auger-Aliassime just couldn't seem to get over the line, hitting five doubles to that point of the second set alone, but finally he took one of his many match points to seal his victory.

Fritz warns against 'dangerous, crazy expectations' on Shelton 'Definitely not invincible' — Pegula bullish ahead of further Swiatek battles in 2023 Auger-Aliassime will meet Tommy Paul next, who thrilled his home crowd by recovering from a set down against Hubert Hurkacz to come through in three. A break each early on saw the two reach the business end of the first set at 5-4 to the Pole, who — on Paul's serve — then pulled out the stops to take it on his first set point.