Felix Auger-Aliassime posts convincing win in opener at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

The 18-year-old from Montreal crushed Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 6-2 in the first match on centre court on Thursday at the ATP Tour Masters 1000 event.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked 58th in the world, had 20 winners — 12 more than the 48th-ranked Norrie.

The Canadian got 80 per cent of his first serves in and had the same percentage for first-serve points, well above Norrie’s 59 per-cent success rate on the latter stat.

Auger-Aliassime converted on all three of his break-point opportunities and won all his service games.

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The result continues an impressive stretch for Auger-Aliassime, who moved well inside the top 100 for the first time in his career after making the final and quarterfinals, respectively, in his past two events on clay in Brazil.

Auger-Aliassime will next face No. 9 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who got a first-round bye. The 20-year-old Tsitsipas made headlines in Toronto last year when he advanced to the final of the Rogers Cup.

No. 13 seed Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and No. 24 seed Denis Shapovalov will join Auger-Aliassime in the second round after getting first-round byes.

On the women’s side, Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., dropped her first-round match later Thursday. Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium beat Bouchard 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.

Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., had Thursday off after winning her first-round match on Wednesday.

The Canadian Press