SHOCKER AT ROGERS CUP
Shapovalov upsets Kyrgios
Denis Shapovalov wanted desperately to be on Centre Court at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Monday night.
His first-round opponent, Australian Nick Kyrgios, who is as talented as he is at times disinterested, wanted to be playing a game, too. Just maybe not this one.
“Eat, sleep, Pokemon Go,” the 21-year-old Aussie tweeted a few hours before two of tennis’ next big things — Shapovalov, the 17-yearold junior Wimbledon winner and Kyrgios, projected by many to one day be the world’s top player — got acquainted.
Krygios could not feign interest and he ultimately paid a heavy price, while Shapovalov scored himself a night he won’t soon forget, absolutely shocking the tournament’s 11th seed and world No. 19 by set scores of 7-6(2), 3-6 and 6-3, to claim his first victory on the ATP World Tour, at home no less.
Shapovalov, who is competing in his first Rogers Cup as a wildcard entrant, will next face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, likely on a Wednesday that was already shaping up to quite a big day with No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Canadian and fourth-seed Milos Raonic scheduled to open their respective tournaments.
Shapovalov made his ATP World Tour debut a week earlier in Washington and returned to Toronto with considerable hype.
The current world No. 2 on the junior circuit became just the third Canadian to win a junior Wimbledon title earlier this month and is viewed as the heir apparent to fellow Canadian Raonic’s throne.
On Monday, he showed precisely why. When Shapovalov pumped his fist upon blowing away his errorprone competitor in the openingset tiebreak, it became clear the junior player was nowhere close to being intimidated, just as it had quickly become apparent Krygios wasn’t anywhere near being in the zone.
Krygios racked up eight double faults by the end of the opening set and 13 midway through the second.
When the Aussie managed to break his opponent in the second game of the second set — the first break of the match — it felt more like luck than skill, and the Canadian simply got right back on his horse and took away Krygios’ serve the very next game.
Shapovalov broke Krygios to quickly go up 2-0 in the deciding set and the Canadian methodically pulled away after that, letting out a massive roar after sealing the match with a cross-court forehand winner.
Having worked his way inside the top 400 on the world’s top pro tour, Shapovalov, a disciple of his family’s tennis academy in Vaughan, certainly thought he was capable of putting up a fight and putting on a show against Kyrgios.
He most certainly was, while Krygios most definitely was not.
Earlier, Canadians Steve Diez and Peter Polansky got past Kyle Edmund and Tim Smyczek respectively.