Auger-Aliassime, Bautista Agut advance at Mallorca Championships

Second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Arthur Rinderknech of France on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the ATP Mallorca Championships.

Making his debut at the grass-court ATP 250 event, the Canadian found the corner with a forehand winner en route to a break and later won the first set 7-5.

In the second, a drop shot forced Rinderknech to charge in leaving an open court for the world number 27 to hold serve for 4-3.

A brilliant back and forth rally unfolded in the next game. Rinderknech reached for a forehand then circled around for a perfect lob. He then followed that with a poor drop shot that Auger-Aliassime punished, leading to a break for 5-3.

On match point, Auger-Alliassime followed a strong serve with a big forehand to win the second set 6-3 and set up a meeting with Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia in the last 8.

In other action, Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina won the first set 7-5 against Roberto Bautista Agut, before the 37-year-old Spaniard bounced back to claim the second 6-3.

Bautista Agut got off to a great start to the third set when the veteran caught the corner with a sublime forehand to break in the first game. The world number 43 did not look back and won the third set 6-2 when Etcheverry hit wide. Bautista Agut will take on Australia's Bernard Tomic for a place in the quarterfinals.