“For the sure the best match I played” – Auger-Aliassime hammers Kecmanovic in Basel

Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 3 seed, moved into the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors by winning against Serb Miomir Kecmanovic with a ruthless 6-1, 6-0 shellacking at the Halle Saint-Jacques in Basel on Thursday evening.

Auger-Aliassime barely dropped points – let alone games – as he improved his career-best winning streak to ten. The Canadian won 50 of the 70 points played in the match, and hit 21 winners against six unforced errors.

“Honestly it’s tough to play better than that from my part,” Auger-Aliassime said. “For sure the best match I’ve played in my whole life -not my career – since I’m a little kid.”

Kecmanovic – 2 for 24 first-serve return points won!

Remarkably, Auger-Aliassime won 22 or 24 first-serve points and 28 of 36 service points overall against the Serb. He broke five times from seven opportunities against Kecmanovic, who managed two winners against seven unforced errors.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked No 9, will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik next. He improves to 50-24 in this his best season on the ATP Tour. Auger-Aliassime, who owns three titles in 2022, is also closing in on a berth at this year’s ATP Finals, but he’d need to win his next match in Basel to increase his position in the Race to Turin.

Auger-Aliassime is the third player to earn 50 wins on tour this season, along with Stefanos Tsitsipas (57) and Carlos Alcaraz (54).

The 22-year-old Canadian edged out Swiss wildcard Marc-Andrea Huesler (6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4) in the previous round.

In the previous round, Kecmanovic, ranked No 28, defeated Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1).

Basle ATP 500, other second-round results (Halle Saint-Jacques, EUR 2.135.350, most recent results first):

• Holger Rune vs. Ugo Humbert
• Brandon Nakashima vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Roberto Bautista Agut (6) beat Andy Murray: 6-3, 6-2
• Alexander Bublik beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 6-3, 6-3
• Pablo Carreno Busta (5) beat Dominic Stricker (WC): 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4
• Carlos Alcaraz (1) beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 6-4, 6-2
• Arthur Rinderknech (Q) beat Alex Molcan: 6-2,

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