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MASON, Ohio — Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated on Friday evening in the third round of the Cincinnati Open after a controversial match point call by the referee.
While his opponent Jack Draper was serving for the match at 40-30, Auger-Aliassime returned the ball and it hit the Briton’s racket, then the ground, before crossing to the other side of the net.
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Rather than having the point and ending up tied (40-40) as it should be, Auger-Aliassime saw the referee give the victory to Draper in three sets of 5-7, 6-4 and 6-4.
Auger-Aliassime argued for long minutes with the official, Greg Allensworth, who was also involved in a controversy with Canadian Denis Shapovalov in Washington two weeks ago. Still, Allensworth didn’t change his mind.
During the match, Auger-Aliassime had 12 aces, but also committed 12 double faults.
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Earlier in the day, he quickly defeated seventh-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1. Ranked 19th in the world, the Montrealer prevailed in 67 minutes, notably by scoring the 14 aces of the match. Auger-Aliassime dominated 5-1 in breaks, in addition to obtaining 86 per cent of the points contested on his first serves.
Among the women, Laval’s Leylah Fernandez, ranked 26th in the WTA, beat Russian Diana Shnaider, 20th in the world, in two sets of 6-1 and 6-4.
Fernandez trailed 4-1 in the second set when play was interrupted by rain. “It’s thanks to your support (the fans) that I came back strong after this break,” she declared on the field after her match. My coaches also helped me a lot to keep the right attitude.”
Fernandez converted four of her 10 break points while hitting seven aces. She also won 81 per cent of the points played on her first serve.
In the quarters, the 21-year-old Quebecer will face American Jessica Pegula, who defeated her compatriot Taylor Townsend 6-2, 6-3.
Fernandez also won in doubles with Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in the evening. They defeated the favourites of the competition, Townsend and the Czech Katerina Siniakova, in three sets of 2-6, 6-1 and 10-6.
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