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Alex Bolt eyes another home-town upset

3 minute read

Adelaide resident Alex Bolt fancies his chances of another upset win when he takes on Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime in an Adelaide International quarter-final.

ALEX BOLT.
ALEX BOLT. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Alex Bolt is the lone Australian remaining at the Adelaide International, but feels anything but lonely amid raucous home-town support.

The Adelaide resident on Thursday night meets the ATP tournament's favourite, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, in a quarter-final at Memorial Drive.

Bolt was granted a wildcard for the inaugural tournament and has cashed it in, with consecutive wins amid parochial support.

The world No.157 on Wednesday upset German seventh seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3 6-4 to secure a last-eight slot against Auger-Aliassime.

The world No.22 is second seed but the title fancy following the pre-tournament withdrawals of Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur.

But Bolt, who will take to centre court before a sell-out crowd of around 5,000, is bullish about his chances of creating another boilover.

"I have never played Felix, but been at a lot of tournaments that he has been at but never come across his path," Bolt told AAP.

"I have watched enough of Felix to know how he plays.

"I try and focus on the things that I do well and I feel like if I can execute that, it doesn't really matter who is down the other end."

Bolt, born in Murray Bridge about 75km east of Adelaide, last year also made the most of a wildcard into the Australian Open, reaching the third round.

Regardless of Thursday night's outcome, he said he was primed for another assault on the Open starting Monday in Melbourne.

"Leading up to a big event, it's great to have a few matches under your belt," Bolt said.

"I'm feeling confident and hopefully I can keep riding this wave."

Touted as a future grand slam winner, Auger-Aliassime has had a slow start to the year, registering just one win from five at the ATP Cup against world No.487 Michail Pervolarakis before a scratchy win over Australian James Duckworth in Adelaide.

Russian Andrey Rublev, the third seed in Adelaide, meets Brit Daniel Evans in a quarter-final as he chases another ATP title after winning in Doha last week..

American Tommy Paul encounters Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas while Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta meets South African qualifier Lloyd Harris in other quarter-finals on Thursday.

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