Canada’s Auger-Aliassime overcomes Huesler to qualify for Swiss Indoors

Third-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Swiss wildcard Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors on Wednesday.

Auger-Aliassime will next face 28th-placed Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic as he seeks his third consecutive title and a place in the ATP Finals.

He is currently seventh in the points race for the eight-man event, but Novak Djokovic, 10th, is assured of a place due to his victory at Wimbledon.

The 19-year-old Spaniard claimed victory with his only ace in a second-round match where he had 20 winners and committed just nine unforced errors.

Alcaraz’s serve was interrupted once and he led 2-0 in the second set before winning six consecutive matches against the 35th-ranked Dutchman.

Two seeds lost their first-round matches, with No. 7 Alex de Minaur losing 6-2, 7-5 to 25th-seeded teenager Holger Rune.

At the previous edition of the Swiss Indoors, in 2019, before the tournament was canceled twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, De Minaur lost in the final as Roger Federer won a record 10th title in the hometown event.

Lorenzo Musetti, seeded eighth, came through the first set before losing 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the 34-year-old Spaniard.

In a second-round match, Arthur Rinderknech defeated Alex Molcan 6-2, 6-4.