Another magical moment for a Canadian at the US Open could be in the making.
Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to cruise into the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday in Queens, N.Y.
It marks the second-farthest run of Auger-Aliassime’s US Open career, behind only his 2021 semifinal appearance when he lost to Daniil Medvedev in straight sets.
The 25th-seeded Canadian will next face eighth-seeded Australian Alex De Minaur, who beat Swiss wild card Leandro Riedi 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 on Monday.
Auger-Aliassime, the 25-year-old from Montreal, had not advanced past the second round of a major this year prior to this run at Flushing Meadows.
But he seems to have found his groove after upsetting No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the third round and now sweeping the 15th-seeded Rublev.
Auger-Aliassime fell behind a break early in the first set against the Russian, but quickly got back on serve before breaking Rublev again in the 15th game of the set to avoid a tiebreaker.
He was in full control the rest of the way.
Auger-Aliassime fired 13 aces to just four double faults in the two-hour, 16-minute match. He also broke on four his seven chances and had 42 winners to Rublev’s 22.
The opening set was a back-and-forth affair that saw the two play to a 5-5 tie. Auger-Aliassime put himself ahead 6-5 thanks to two aces and a forehand winner.
After multiple failed chances at converting on break point with the final game at deuce, Auger-Aliassime eventually claimed the set with a forehand winner followed by a Rublev backhand unforced error.
With the second set tied 2-2, Auger-Aliassime went into cruise control winning four of the next five games. He closed out two of those games with aces and the other two thanks to an unforced error and a forced error from Rublev.
In the final set, with Rublev looking to make a push and the score at 5-4, Auger-Aliassime didn’t surrender a single point. Behind a forehand winner, ace, forehand winner then a backhand winner, the 25-year-old sealed the victory.
A pair of Canadian women have enjoyed breakthroughs at the US Open in recent years, with Bianca Andreescu beating Serena Williams in the 2019 final and Leylah Fernandez reaching the championship match two years later.
Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand partner Erin Routliffe won the 2023 women’s doubles title.
The duo advanced to the quarterfinals Monday when they defeated No. 13 seed Cristina Bucas of Spain and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States 6-4, 6-2.
Later Monday, Fernandez and teammate Venus Williams take on Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova and China’s Zhang Shuai.
–with files from The Canadian Press
