It was a triple milestone victory for Auger-Aliassime.
First of all, it was his 10th win in a row. He came into Basel on an eight-match winning streak, having won back-to-back ATP 250 indoor hard-court events in Florence, Italy and Antwerp, Belgium the last two weeks—his 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Swiss wild card Marc-Andrea Huesler in the first round here was his ninth win in a row, and now he hits double digits with his victory over Kecmanovic. It’s the longest tour-level winning streak of his career, his previous-longest winning streak being eight in a row.
Second of all, it was his 50th win of the year—he’s just the third man to record 50 or more wins this year, after Stefanos Tsitsipas (57 going into Thursday) and Carlos Alcaraz (54).
Finally, it was the 150th win of Auger-Aliassime’s career—he’s the first man born in the 2000s to reach that milestone, the next-highest going to Jannik Sinner (126) and Alcaraz (87).
Awaiting the Canadian in the quarterfinals of Basel will be Alexander Bublik—the two are tied 1-1 in their head-to-head, but they haven’t played in over two years.