Auger-Aliassime powers past Nakashima into Florence semis

When Félix Auger-Aliassime finds his rhythm, he’s virtually unplayable.

That was the case on Friday on the Firenze Open because the Canadian put away Brandon Nakashima in straight units to succeed in the semifinals in Florence.

It was a clinic in attacking tennis from Auger-Aliassime within the quarter-final conflict as he overcame a sluggish begin earlier than blowing Nakashima off the court docket in a 6-3, 6-4 victory that by no means actually regarded doubtful

“More than happy with my stage, it was a fantastic two units of tennis,” stated Auger-Aliassime in his post-match interview. “I feel I served effectively. I needed to keep very targeted till the tip since you by no means know, matches can come again shortly and I needed to win in two units.”

The serve was locked in for Auger-Aliassime on Friday, as he pounded seven aces, put 66 per cent of his first serves in play and gained 90 % of these factors. He solely misplaced 4 factors when placing his first serve into play. As soon as the rally started, the Canadian was additionally rock stable, hitting twice as many winners as unforced errors 24 to 12.

Nakashima laid down the gauntlet early on, breaking Auger-Aliassime within the opening recreation. However the Canadian responded instantly with a break of his personal earlier than beginning to discover a rhythm on his serve.

Auger-Aliassime utilized fixed stress to the Nakashima serve all through the opening set, breaking twice within the American’s first three service video games to take the initiative with a 5-2 lead. After some early jitters, the Canadian’s serve was untouchable as he by no means gave his opponent an opportunity to get again within the set.

There was not let as much as begin the second, as Auger-Aliassime arrange a break level within the opening recreation and took the early lead when Nakashima netted a volley.

In his second spherical match, Auger-Aliassime additionally led by a set and a break however ended up needing three units for the win. However with the way in which the Canadian was serving, the consequence appeared inevitable as soon as he had the break lead.

The one adversity Auger-Aliassime confronted on his technique to the end line was having to dig out of a love-30 maintain on serve at 4-3, however he reeled off 4 straight factors for the maintain. Two video games later, he completed off the match with a forehand winner.

Standing between Auger-Aliassime and his third ultimate of 2022, his first since February, is third seed Lorenzo Musetti. The Italian leads their head-to-head 2-1, though all three of their earlier conferences got here on clay.