The Canadian once again needed to recover from losing the opening sets before winning the match.
Felix Auger Aliassime is into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open after beating the American Tommy Paul in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in two hours and 46 minutes on Stadium 2.
The number eight seed hit 31 winners, served 12 aces, and won 78% of his first serve points in a marathon match that went the distance.
“I lost the first set,” he said. “I need to play better which I did and it was a tough start but I stayed positive and you take it one step at a time and I am really happy to get through.”
The American got off to a quick start breaking the Canadian in the first game of the match and that break of serve was enough for Paul to serve out the first set.
The second set was also a tight one as both players held their serves until 4-3 when the world number 10 got the crucial break and was able to serve out the set to send it to a decider.
The number 17 seed responded in the third set and jumped out to a 3-0 lead but again Auger Aliassime dug deep and won the next three games in a row and the match went back on serve.
At 6-5, Paul earned three match points on the Canadian serve but the number eight seed was able to save all three relying heavily on his serve to get him out of trouble.
The match was eventually decided by a tiebreaker where once again the Montreal native was down 6-3 facing three more match points but managed to save all three and got the crucial break and served out the match.
After the match in his on-court interview, he was asked about his composure and how he was able to focus on getting himself out of trouble.
“Today was proof that doing this can help in tough moments and can make me survive in these types of matches and I am really proud of my effort.”
Auger Aliassime will next face the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz the number one seed in the quarterfinals after his opponent Jack Draper was forced to retire at 6-2, 2-0 in the match.
