ATP Tour

Defending champion Auger-Aliassime defeats Wawrinka in Montpellier

Defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime made a winning start to his title defence on Thursday at the Open Occitanie, where he overcame wild card Stan Wawrinka, who was making his final appearance at the ATP 250.

In the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, top seed Auger-Aliassime earned a 6-4, 7-6(3) win against the 40-year-old Swiss star to reach the quarter-finals in Montpellier.

Auger-Aliassime, 25, retired during his first-round match at the Australian Open against Nuno Borges last month but bounced back against Wawrinka to move a step closer to his ninth tour-level title.

“I know him very well,” Auger-Aliassime said of Wawrinka. “Growing up all these years — watching him be the legendary player he is — all of us young players dream of a career like he has had. The winning, but the resilience, the hard work, the consistency.

“He has been an example for all of us young players. It is crazy we had never played before and I told him in the locker rooms in Australia, ‘It is crazy we have not played before’, and then it happens. It was great to share the court with him.”

Since the start of the decade, the Canadian Auger-Aliassime has earned a Tour-leading 86 indoor victories, lifting seven titles in these conditions. The No. 8 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will next play sixth seed Arthur Fils or Ugo Blanchet.

Luca Nardi upset second seed Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 to earn his third Top 20 win. Nardi is into his second tour-level quarter-final and leads Cobolli 4-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Nardi will meet Martin Damm in the last eight, while Cobolli will head to the ATP 500 event in Dallas, aiming to bounce back from opening-round defeats at the Australian Open and Montpellier.

Fourth seed Tallon Griekspoor dispatched Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-4 to capture his first win since October. The Dutchman will next face French qualifier Titouan Droguet after the home hope beat last year’s finalist Aleksandar Kovacevic 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.