Canada’s Auger-Aliassime, Andreescu Get to Semifinals in Repentigny
Second-seeded Félix Auger-Aliassime reached the men’s singles semifinal at the Bank National Canadian International Junior tennis championships Thursday at Parc Larochelle in Repentigny.
The 16-year-old Montrealer defeated 11th-seeded Toru Horie of Japan 7-5, 6-3 and will meet Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the 12th seed from Spain, in the semifinals Friday. Fokina was a 6-4, 6-3 winner over 14th-seeded Yuta Shimizu of Japan.
Fifth-seeded Benjamin Sigouin of Vancouver, the other Canadian hopeful for the men’s title, was upset by 16th-seeded Liam Caruana 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Caruana was born in Rome and represents Italy but he grew up in Texas and dropped out of the University of Texas earlier this year to pursue a tennis career.
Caruana’s semifinal opponent will be top-seeded Ulises Blanch, the globe-trotting American who has lived in China, Thailand, India and most recently Argentina. Blanch edged seventh-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Top-seeded Bianca Vanessa Andreescu led the charge into the women’s singles semifinals. The 16-year-old from Mississauga defeated Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico 6-2, 6-3.
Andreescu will face fifth-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland in the semifinals. Swiatek breezed past Russian Elena Rybakina 6-2, 6-2.
The other semifinal matches second-seeded Olga Danilovic of Serbia and 13th-seeded Wushuang Zheng of China. Danilovic crushed sixth-seeded Ioana Minca of Romania 6-1, 6-0 while Zheng beat ninth-seeded Eva Guerrero Alvarez of Spain 6-4, 6-1.