8th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime will square off against 27th seed Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 32 of the 2023 Indian Wells on Monday.
The Canadian sensation reached the semifinals of the Qatar Open in February but couldn’t build on that win as he lost to Lorenzo Sonego in the round of 16 of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
After getting a first-round bye, Auger-Aliassime faced Spaniard Pedro Martinez in the round of 64. The first set was evenly contested but Auger-Aliassime bagged it in the tiebreak. Martinez fought well in the second set too but eventually lost 6-7 (5-7), 4-6. Auger-Aliassime smashed 10 aces in the encounter and had a win percentage of 82 on the first serve.
The Argentine youngster has reached a couple of quarterfinals in 2023. Prior to Indian Wells, he played in the Chile Open where he lost to Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the round of 16.
Cerundolo was also awarded a first-round bye and he opened his Indian Wells campaign by facing Jack Sock in the round of 64. Sock won the first set but Cerundolo came back strongly to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 24-year-old Cerundolo converted 3 out of 6 break points and was helped by 8 double faults committed by his opponent.
Felix Auger-Aliassime leads the head-to-head scoreline 1-0 as he defeated Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the third round of the Australian Open earlier this year.
Prediction: Felix Auger-Aliassime to win in three sets.
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