Defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime delivered 20 aces while posting a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 victory over French qualifier Titouan Droguet on Saturday to return to the finale of the Open Occitanie in Montpellier, France.
The top-seeded Auger-Aliassime of Canada had 47 winners against 29 unforced errors and saved all three break points while knocking off Droguet, who made a nice run into his first tour-level semifinal. Droguet had 14 aces among 30 winners and committed 37 unforced errors.
Auger-Aliassime will be searching for his ninth career title when he faces France’s Adrian Mannarino, who rallied for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Martin Damm. Mannarino, 37, had 11 aces to become the oldest finalist in the event’s history. He has won five ATP titles.
Damm had 23 aces and the big hitter delivered 41 winners against 35 unforced errors. By comparison, Mannarino had 19 winners and 14 unforced errors.
Davis Cup
Host Germany closed out Peru 4-0 with two victories on Saturday in Davis Cup first-round qualifying in Dusseldorf.
Entering the day up 2-0, Germany clinched when the doubles team of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz defeated Peru’s Ignacio Buse and Arklon Huertas del Pino Cordova 6-0, 2-6, 6-4. Germany’s Justin Engel won the fourth match when Gonzalo Bueno retired after the pair split the first two sets, 6-3 (for Engel) and 7-6 (4).
Canada edged Brazil 3-2 in Vancouver. Brazil’s Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos recorded a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Liam Draxl and Cleeve Harper. Canada’s Gabriel Diallo responded with a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) decision over Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida. Draxl then beat Brazil’s Gustavo Heide 6-3, 6-4 in the decisive fifth match.
Austria advanced on a 3-2 win over Japan in Tokyo, winning two singles matches on Saturday. Lukas Neumayer downed Shintaro Mochizuki 6-3, 6-3, and Jurij Rodionov yielded the first set before dominating Yoshihito Nishioka 5-7, 6-1, 6-0.
The United States went up 2-0 on host Hungary in Tatabanya, as Tommy Paul defeated Zsombor Piros 7-6 (3), 6-3, and Ethan Quinn won a battle with Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11).
Croatia eliminated visiting Denmark 3-1 in Varazdin on victories by Dino Prizmic over Elmer Moller 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) and the doubles team of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic over Johannes Ingildsen and Carl Emil Overbeck 6-2, 7-5.
Host Chile ousted Serbia 4-0 in Santiago as Matias Soto outlasted Branko Djuric 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), 10-7. Chile’s doubles team of Tomas Barrios Vera and Nicolas Jarry downed Ivan Sabanov and Matej Sabanov 6-4, 6-4.
At Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Belgium took a 2-0 lead on the host country as Alexander Blockx rallied to top Iliyan Radulov 6-7 (3), 6-4-1, and Raphael Collignon beat Alexander Vasilev 6-3, 6-3.
At Bengaluru, India, Guy Den Ouden got a point for the Netherlands with a 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Sumit Nagal, and India drew even on Dhakshineswar Suresh’s 6-4, 7-5 win over Jesper de Jong.
Host Ecuador took a 2-0 lead on Australia in Quito as Alvaro Guillen Meza got past Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, and Andres Andrade beat James Duckworth 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Czechia got off to a perfect start leading visiting Sweden 2-0 in Jihlava thanks to Jiri Lehecka’s 6-3, 6-4 win over Dragos Nicolae Madaras and Dalibor Svrcina’s 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Olle Wallin.
Argentina and host South Korea are tied 1-1 in Busan, and host France is level with Slovakia 1-1 in Le Portel.
–Field Level Media
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