Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the third round of the BNP Paribas Open with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 win over French qualifier Constant Lestienne on Friday in Indian Wells, Calif.
Auger-Aliassime won 85 per cent of first serve points and broke Lestienne four times on 10 chances while defending all three break points he faced.
The 23-year-old Canadian will next face the winner of a match between second seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi.
Auger-Aliassime had a bye in the first round as the 31st seed at the ATP Masters-level event.
He improved to 7-6 on the season as he looks to improve his recent form.
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime cruises past French qualifier at Indian Wells:
The Canadian tennis star had no problem with Constant Lestienne as Auger-Aliassime moved to the third round in California.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., needed only 73 minutes to bounce Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-4 on Friday afternoon and advance to the second round.
Zandschulp had 18 unforced errors and six double faults, while Shapovalov had 11 unforced errors and four double faults.
The 24-year-old Canadian won eight service games and four return games. He also won five games in a row at one point of the match.
WATCH | Shapovalov advances to 2nd round:
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Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., beats Botic van de Zandschulp from the Netherlands 6-1, 6-4 in the opening round of the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, Calif.
Shapovalov will next face 26th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who had a first-round bye.
In men’s doubles, Auger-Aliassime and his American partner Sebastian Korda were eliminated by Brit Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer of Curacao 3-6, 7-6, 10-3.
Auger-Aliassime and Korda led in aces 6-3, but made more double faults (9-4) and unforced errors in the one hour, 34-minute match.
