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Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime downs Malek Jaziri in opener in Barcelona

Apr 24, 2019 | 10:08 AM

BARCELONA, Spain — Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is off to the third round of the Barcelona Open.

The No. 16 seed from Montreal beat Malek Jaziri of Tunisia 6-3, 7-6 (7) at the ATP Tour 500 clay-court event on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old Auger-Aliassime, who got a first-round bye, will face No. 4 seed Kei Nishikori of Japan in the third round on Thursday.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked 31st in the world, won 77 per cent of his points on first serve, as compared to 62 per cent for the 72nd-ranked Jaziri.

No. 9 seed Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was scheduled to face Cristian Garin of Chile in a second-round match later Wednesday.

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An incorrect score appeared in a previous version