Montreal teen Felix Auger-Aliassime is off to the quarterfinals at the Miami Open.
The 18-year-old, who had to win two qualifying matches just to get into the ATP Tour Masters 1000 event, upset No. 17 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a fourth-round match on Tuesday.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked 57th in the world, becomes just the second qualifier in the last 20 years to reach the Miami quarterfinals. Argentina's Guillermo Canas was the other, advancing to the final in 2007.
The Canadian's days of having to qualify for tournaments will come to an end shortly, now that his ranking has improved. Entry deadlines for tournaments are weeks before events begin -- and Auger-Aliassime's ranking wasn't good enough at the Miami cutoff to get him direct entry.
Auger-Aliassime is guaranteed to move up to at least 41st next week with his latest victory. He is the first player born in the 2000s to reach the top 50.
Auger-Aliassime will play the winner of a match between No. 11 seed Borna Coric of Croatia and No. 27 seed Nick Kyrgios of Australia in the quarterfinals.
