Felix Auger-Aliassime beat fellow Canadian Gabriel Diallo 6-2, 7-5 Wednesday in an all-Montreal matchup at the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
The fifth seed fired eight aces and broke Diallo four times to advance.
Diallo matched Auger-Aliassime with eight aces but won just 35 per cent of his second-serve points.
Auger-Aliassime, a two-time champion at Basel in 2022 and 2023, moves on to face Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic in the Round of 16 at the ATP 500 event on Thursday.
He joins Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., after his countryman advanced Tuesday with a three-set win over American Marcos Giron.
Shapovalov will also play Thursday against France’s Valentin Royer, a lucky loser he beat at the U.S. Open earlier this year.
Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime outlasted Jiri Lehecka of Czech Republic 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-2 Sunday to claim his eighth ATP Tour title this time in Brussels.
