ROTTERDAM: The third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime continued his title charge at the 2022 World Tennis Tournament on Thursday with a statement win over former World No. 1 Andy Murray.
The Canadian, who reached the final in Rotterdam in 2020, overcame the Scottish wild card 6-3, 6-4 in a dominant performance to advance into the quarter-finals after one hour and 37 minutes.
"From the start of the match I was ready and focused and I think that is why I was able to produce a high level from the first point," Auger-Aliassime said in his on-court interview. "He made me bring out my best tennis and I am really happy with the way I played and that I was able to stay ahead. [To] win in straight sets is a great relief."
Auger-Aliassime is making his fourth appearance at the ATP 500 event and arrived in Rotterdam off the back of a personal-best run to the last eight at the Australian Open, where he lost to finalist Daniil Medvedev.
Earlier, Stefanos Tsitsipas was in no mood to hang around in Rotterdam. The top-seeded Greek sent out a clear statement to the rest of the field with an all-around display to beat Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 6-4, 6-1 in one hour, 11 minutes in the second round.