Auger-Aliassime avenges French Open loss to Nishioka en route to Cologne semifinals
Milos Raonic withdraws before European Open quarter-final due to abdominal strain
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to the semifinals of the Cologne Championship hardcourt tennis tournament.
The fifth-seeded Auger-Aliassime beat Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4 Friday to move on to his second final four in Cologne in as many weeks. The German city is hosting back-to-back ATP competitions that were added to the pandemic-disrupted schedule.
Friday's win was a measure of revenge for Auger-Aliassime, who fell to Nishioka in the first round of the French Open last month.
"I wanted to try a few things against him, mix up the speeds, the rhythm, play higher, play faster," Auger-Aliassime said. "I tried to play with that today and the outcome was good and that's positive. I showed I could adapt from my past losses.
"I could not ask for a better outcome."
WATCH | Auger-Aliassime defeats Nishioka in straight sets:
Auger-Aliassime will face second-seeded Diego Schwartzman in Saturday's semifinals. Schwartzman trailed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 2-6, 2-5 but fought back to win 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 earlier Friday.
It will be the first ATP Tour meeting between the 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime, ranked 22nd in the world, and world No. 9 Schwartzman.
Auger-Aliassime fired 11 aces in Friday's match and broke Nishioka four times on 10 chances. The Canadian saved four of the six break points he faced.
In other results, top-seeded Alexander Zverev defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4.
Zverev, who beat Auger-Aliassime in last week's final in Cologne, missed the chance to settle the match when he served at 5-3 in the second set, but eventually prevailed after 2 hours, 40 minutes.
Zverev next faces Italian wild card Jannik Sinner, who recovered after losing eight games in a row to upset Gilles Simon 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. Sinner was 0-2 down in the deciding set.
Roanic withdraws from European Open
An abdominal strain has ended Milos Raonic's run at European Open, as the Canadian was forced to withdraw ahead of his quarter-final match against Grigor Dmitrov on Friday in Antwerp, Belgium.
The No. 5 seed, from Thornhill, Ont., had advanced to the third-round match at the ATP Tour 250 hard-court event with a win over Great Britain's Cameron Norrie 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Thursday.
WATCH | Milos Raonic advances to quarter-finals at European Open:
Dimitrov was awarded a walkover win and will face No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia or American Marcos Giron in the semifinals.
South African qualifier Lloyd Harris faces France's Ugo Humbert and No. 3 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia meets Great Britain's Daniel Evans in the other quarter-finals.
Plagued by injuries throughout his career, Raonic was coming off a run to the semifinals last week at a tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is ranked 19th in the world.
With files from CBC Sports and The Associated Press
