Ontario’s budding star wins again
Bouchard, Pospisil settle for early exits at the U.S. Open
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov advanced into the third round of the U.S. Open on Wednesday after a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over eighth seed JoWilfried Tsonga of France.
The 18-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., will next face Kyle Edmund of Britain.
Shapovalov, ranked No. 69 in the world, started the match strong at Arthur Ashe Stadium by breaking Tsonga’s serve on the first game of the opening set. Both players held serve for the rest of the set.
The Canadian had a big break in the second set when Tsonga double-faulted to let Shapovalov go up 4-3. He used that momentum to hold on and take a 2-0 set lead.
Shapovalov once again broke Tsonga to put him up 4-3 in the third set, but the Frenchman got it back when Shapovalov was serving for the match to tie the set at 5-5.
The third set went to a tiebreak, which Shapovalov dominated to win the match in just over two hours 11 minutes.
Shapovalov, who finished the match with 28 winners, gained entry into the main draw of the final Grand Slam tournament of the season last week with three victories in qualifying.
It’s been a great run of late for Shapovalov, who became the youngest man to reach a Masters semifinal earlier this month at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. That tournament included an upset victory over the world No. 1, Rafael Nadal.
Shapovalov beat Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the U.S. Open.
Edmund ousted Steve Johnson 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (4) earlier Wednesday.
It was an otherwise tough day for Canadians at the U.S. Open with both Eugenie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil eliminated.
Bouchard, from Montreal, fell 7-6 (2), 6-1 to Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina.
Facing double match point, Bouchard sent a backhand into the net as her record dropped to 12-17 on the season.
Bouchard, ranked 76th in the world, has failed to make it past the second round of her last eight tournaments, starting with a secondround exit at the French Open. The 23-year-old made 46 unforced errors compared with 18 for Rodina.
Bouchard converted three of her four break-point opportunities, but struggled to hold serve. Rodina broke Bouchard five times on nine chances.
Rodina, ranked 89th in the world, next faces fourth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine.
In men’s action, Vancouver’s Pospisil retired from his match with Spain’s Fernando Verdasco after losing the first set 6-2.
Pospisil, who has been bothered by back pain and struggled through the opening set, met briefly with trainers during the changeover before withdrawing
Also Wednesday, No. 4 Alexander Zverev was beaten by Borna Coric 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4). Zverev knocked off Shapovalov in the Rogers Cup semifinals earlier this month in Montreal. The 20-year-old German is the highest-ranked man to exit Flushing Meadows so far.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova became the first woman into the third round at the U.S. Open by using 12 aces to help set aside a poor start and rally to beat Timea Babos of Hungary 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1.