The Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime nearly avoided another loss in their ATP Head2Head match on Wednesday against Alex Molcan at the Australian Open with a comeback triumph. Molcan had upset Felix once, less than a year ago in Marrakech.
The sixth seed rallied from a set down to win on Margaret Court Arena with scores of 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, keeping him alive in his quest to top his quarterfinal performance from Melbourne last year.
Molcan, who was about to go to the third round of the Australian Open for the first time, came close to pulling off his second upset of Auger-Aliassime in ten months. In their first encounter, which took place in Marrakech last April, the Slovakian turned away two match points before triumphing in a third-set tie-break. For the third year in a row, Auger-Aliassime has advanced to the third round and will next play either Francisco Cerundolo or Corentin Moutet.