Felix Auger-Aliassime is the last Canadian standing at the National Bank Open

On a day of upsets, the Montrealer survives a tough first set against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka to earn a spot in the third round.

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In a day marked by upsets, Montrealer Felix Auger-Aliassime battled his way into the third round of the National Bank Open on Wednesday with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Announcement 2

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Auger-Aliassime struggled to capture the first set. He fended off four break points before Nishioka, who was coming off one last appearance against Nick Kyrgios in Washington last week, broke for a 3-2 lead. But Auger-Aliassime fell back in the next game and both players held serve to force a tie break.

Auger-Aliassime seemed in control as he delivered two aces en route to a commanding 6-3 lead. But he allowed the Japanese player to get back into the set when he played a series of sloppy points. including a dropshot that missed the net, and found the tiebreaker tied at 6-6.

But the last Canadian left in the draw closed out the set with a backhand winner and a forehand pass.

Auger-Aliassime dominated the second set. He broke Nishioka in game five and had break points in two other games. He failed to capitalize on two match points at 5-3, but served out the match.

Announcement 3

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The victory sets up a rematch against ninth seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain. The two met last week in the semifinals in Los Cabos, with Norrie winning in three sets.

Norrie had an easy passage to the round of 16, beating Botic Van De Zandschulp of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2.

Great Britain’s Daniel Evans defeated fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-4, 6-4 and that left the tournament without three of its top five seeds after top-seeded Daniil Medvedev and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz were defeated on Wednesday evening.

Taylor Fritz, the 10th seed, had a roller coaster ride before beating fellow American Frances Tiafoe. Fritz, who has been affected by a stress fracture in his foot, lost the first set and trailed 0-4 in the third before amassing six straight games to win 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.

Announcement 4

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In a tweet after the game, Fritz said his foot problems seem to be behind him, but he asked for a medical timeout because “I constantly felt like I was going to pass out, my vision was getting blurry and the only thing that can really prepare me is to play in conditions like these… is to play in conditions like these”.

“I’m sorry if I worried anyone,” he added.

Fritz is a California native, but has a Canadian connection. His uncle, Harry Fritz, played the Davis Cup for Canada and was the highest ranked player in Canada. In 1982, in the pre-playoff era, he defeated Jorge Andrew of Venezuela 16-14, 11-9, 9-11, 4-6, 11-9 for a total of 100 games. That is the record for the most games played in a Davis Cup match.

Albert Ramos-Vinolas became the third Spaniard to reach the third round when he defeated 11th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-4, 6-2.

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