Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the third round of the Miami Open while fellow Canadian Victoria Mboko narrowly missed pulling off a major upset.
Auger-Aliassime cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate in men’s second-round action Friday. Later, Mboko went the distance 10th seed Paula Badosa before falling 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (3) in the women’s second round.
The 24-year-old Auger-Aliassime was solid on serve, converting 84 per cent of service points with six aces. He saved the only break point he faced and scored on all 11 of his net point chances.
On return, Auger-Aliassime broke Schoolkate twice on nine chances, including in the first game of the second set, to cruise to victory in one hour 27 minutes.
The 18-year-old Mboko, playing in her first WTA 1000-level main draw, gave Badosa all she could handle. Badosa needed a late break to take the first set before the rising star from Burlington, Ont., dominated the second set.
Mboko came back from down a break in the third set to force a tiebreaker but couldn’t complete the upset.
Auger-Aliassime, seeded 18th in Miami, is 17-6 this season with two titles. He will next face 15th seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy.
Auger-Aliassime and Musetti have split their previous six matches, with the Italian winning the most recent meeting in the bronze-medal match at the Paris Olympics.
Mboko was given a wild-card entry in Miami after a dominant start to the season at the ITF World Tour level.
She has a 27-1 record with five titles on the second-tier circuit and opened up the season on a 22-match winning streak over which she did not drop a set. The results moved her up to a career-high world ranking of No. 162 heading into Miami.
