Felix Auger-Aliassime cruises into 3rd round of Australian Open

Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Hugo Grenier of France 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday to advance to the third round of the Australian Open.

The Canadian landed 72 per cent of his first serves, compared to Grenier's 59 per cent, in a match that lasted two hours 56 minutes.

"It was a positive win overall today," Auger-Aliassime said. "Hopefully I can keep going."

Auger-Aliassime also fended off eight of 11 breakpoint attempts while converting eight of his 20 opportunities.

Auger-Aliassime, who is seeded 27th in Melbourne, will next face the winner of a match between world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland.

WATCH | Auger-Aliassime knocks off Grenier in Melbourne:

The Canadian opened the Grand Slam tournament with a five-set win over Austria's Dominic Thiem in a match that lasted nearly five hours.

"Things will get tougher and tougher as the tournament goes on," Auger-Aliassime said. "But I feel good with my game and I feel like the work that we've done is paying off.

"I think the wheels are in the right direction so I need to stay focused, stay consistent and hopefully keep winning some matches."

In women's doubles, Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and Montreal's Erin Routliffe defeated American Ashlyn Krueger and Czechia's Linda Fruhvirtova 6-1, 7-5 in their opening match on Thursday.

Dabrowski and Routliffe, the reigning U.S. Open champions, will face Russians Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Veronika Kudermetova in the next round.

WATCH | Dabrowski, Routliffe win opener:

Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz dropped a set for the first time in the tournament before recovering to beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (3) in Rod Laver Arena.

With a strong breeze to contend with, Alcaraz was tested by Lorenzo Sonego before coming through in four sets.