Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is off to a hot start in his first clay-court tournament of the season.
Auger-Aliassime advanced to the quarterfinals of the Monte-Carlo Masters with a win over ninth-seeded Casper Ruud in the Round of 16 on Thursday.
The Canadian won the first set 7-5 before Ruud retired at 2-2 in the second set.
Auger-Aliassime will take on Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.
Sinner, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, made the quarters with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 win over Tomas Machac on Thursday.
Auger-Aliassime is 2-4 in his career against Sinner, with the Italian winning the last four meetings.