Felix Auger-Aliassime battles his way into the quarters in Montreal

.

Local favorite Felix Auger-Aliassime is through to the National Bank Open quarterfinals for the first time in five attempts.

.

The 22-year-old Montrealer, who is the sixth seed, cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over ninth-seeded Cameron Norrie of Great Britain to avenge a loss to the southpaw last week in the semi-finals of a tournament in Los Angeles. Capes, Mexico. He enjoys a 5-1 career record against Norrie.

It was fitting that Auger-Aliassime ace on match point because his serve was instrumental in the victory. He had 15 aces, Norris had none, and he never faced a break point. He put 85 per cent of his first serves into play and won 92 per cent of those points.

Those weren’t the only stats that reflected Auger-Aliassime’s aggressive play. He went to the net 11 times and won 10 of those points. He too had 29 winners to only 11 for Norrie.

Up next for Auger-Aliassime is fourth seed Casper Ruud of Norway, who is the highest seed remaining in the tournament.

.

A long opening match on Center Court and a 69-minute rain delay forced organizers to juggle Thursday’s schedule. Auger-Aliassime was supposed to play the third match of the afternoon session, but he advanced when the Aussie match between Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur was moved to the stands. Kyrgios comfortably won that match 6-2, 6-3.

Ruud defeated 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 in a match that lasted three hours and 18 minutes. It was the second-longest match at the Canadian Open since the ATP began recording match times in 1991. It fell within two minutes of time to Tommy Paul’s three-set victory over second seed Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday. .

Ruud said he benefited from the rain delay, which came after Bautista Agut won the first game of the third set.

.

“It was a tough battle,” Ruud said. “The first two sets were two hours and 20 minutes. Good intensity and he was feeling it a little bit in his legs. Luckily it rained a bit which gave me some time to breathe and get some energy back and I can thank the weather gods today for giving me some extra time and energy.

“This win was a bit more special because it was against a player I had never beaten before,” said Ruud, who lost both of his previous matches against the Spaniard. “What good quality in the first two sets. I didn’t feel like he could find any holes in his game, which was frustrating. He is a very tough player, one of the best in the last six, seven, eight years. Someone who I think all young players should look up to. What a professional he is and what a great fighter, racer and competitor he is.”

.

Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, the eighth seed, had a battle before overcoming Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (3).

The tournament has seen a number of surprises rarely seen at this level.

The top three seeds, Daniil Medvedev, Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas, lost their opening matches on Wednesday.

The last time the top three seeds lost their opening matches at a Masters 1000 event was at Indian Wells in 1999, when top seed Pete Sampras lost to Felix Mantilla; No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov lost to Gustavo Kuerten and No. 3 Alex Corretja lost to Mark Philippoussis.

[email protected]

twitter.com/zababes1