Montpellier Open: Excellent Auger-Aliassime marches past Bu to make last 4

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the second seed, beat Chinese Yunchaokete Bu, the No 8 seed, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the Montpellier Open at the Sud de France Arena on Friday afternoon.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked No 23, will play the winner of the match between No 5 seed Tallon Griekspoor and Jesper De Jong next.

Speaking about his opponent, Bu, the Canadian said:

“There’s always a wariness when you’re playing an opponent for the first time. He’s still young (23-years-old), he was ranked No 5 in the world as a junior (end of 2018), and he beat some very good players in China last year.”

The former top 10 player reached the semi-finals of the event last season, losing to Alexander Bublik, and will be looking to go one further in 2025:

“Last year, I made brilliant shots and, at other times, made a lot of mistakes. My game (now) is more disciplined, more solid.”

The Canadian won against Frenchman Arthur Cazaux (6-4, 7-6 (5)) ahead of his victory.

In the previous rounds of the Montpellier tournament, Bu, ranked No 71, won against German Daniel Altmaier (7-6 (1), 6-3) and French qualifier Constant Lestienne (6-2, 6-1).

Montpellier ATP 250, other last eight results (Sud de France Arena, hard, EUR 673.360, most recent results first):

• Alexander Bublik vs. Aleksandar Kovacevic
• Andrey Rublev vs. Nikoloz Basilashvili
• Tallon Griekspoor vs. Jesper De Jong