The 10th-seeded Auger-Aliassime, from Montreal, downed Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 at the clay-court event on Wednesday.
It sets up a third-round match between the seventh-seeded Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., and Auger-Aliassime at the ATP Tour 500 tournament At the top level in the head-to-head series, the two have split four matches. Auger-Aliassime won the only match on clay in 2019 in Madrid. Born one year apart, the 22-year-old Shapovalov and 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime are longtime friends. Shapovalov stayed at Auger-Aliassime family's house for part of his improbable run to the Rogers Cup semifinals in 2017.The Canadian won 75 per cent of points when he got his first serve in, 18 percentage points better than his opponent.
Why does this ALWAYS happen?