Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the second round of the Qatar Open tennis tournament with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) win over French qualifier Quentin Halys on Tuesday in Doha.
After both players held serve throughout the deciding set, Auger Aliassime pulled away in the tiebreaker and converted match point on return.
Halys took the first set when he broke Auger-Aliassime in the final game, but the Canadian scored a key break of his own early in the second set before coming back from double break point and clinching the set with an ace.
Both players displayed powerful serves, with Auger-Aliassime firing 13 aces and Halys responding with 12.
Auger-Aliassime improved to 2-0 against Halys after defeating the Frenchman last year in Marseille.
The world No. 23, who has already won two titles this season, will next face Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic at the ATP 500 event.
Medjedovic moved on with a 7-6 (6), 5-7, 7-6 (5) upset of sixth-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Kessler earns shocking win over Gauff
McCartney Kessler earned her first top-10 victory by beating third-ranked Coco Gauff 6-4, 7-5 at the Dubai Championships.
Gauff hadn’t fallen to an opponent ranked outside the top 50 since a loss to Sofia Kenin (128th) at Wimbledon in 2023.
Kessler, ranked No. 54, will play either Emma Raducanu or Karolina Muchova in the Round of 16.
Earlier, second-seeded Iga Swiatek beat Victoria Azarenka 6-0, 6-2 and will next face Dayana Yastremska for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka eliminated Veronia Kudermetova 6-3, 6-4, and defending champion Jasmine Paolini defeated Eva Lys 6-2, 7-5.
Elena Rybakina , Jessica Pegula and Paula Badosa also advanced.
