A major upset
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov beats Australia’s Nick Kyrgios at Rogers Cup
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov upset Australia’s Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3 on Monday night at the Rogers Cup men’s tennis tournament.
Backed by a hometown crowd, the 17-year-old Shapovalov took advantage of the world No. 19 and Kyrgios’s many unforced errors on a beautiful evening that featured a light breeze at Aviva Centre.
Shapovalov, who is a wild card in the tournament, was coming off a boys’ singles title at Wimbledon earlier this month. The Richmond Hill, Ont., native is the youngest player in the tournament. He’ll face Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the second round.
Shapovalov opened the third set with a convincing 2-0 lead, breaking Kyrgios in the second game. The Aussie continued to make unforced errors which Shapovalov was able to take advantage of.
Shapovalov carried that momentum into the third game, smashing his 11th ace of the match to take a 3-0 lead.
The winning game went to deuce before Shapovalov smashed an ace for advantage and then had a cross-court forehand winner to take the match.
The Canadian looked nervous off the bat but was able to compose himself and launched an ace to take the first game of the first set.
He took the first set by overpowering the Aussie with his serve, taking the tiebreak 7-2. Shapovalov’s winner came off a big left-handed serve that was too much for Kyrgios to handle.
Shapovalov, who wore an almost identical kit to Kyrgios minus his white ball cap, carried that momentum into the second set.
But Kyrgios started to take control when he broke Shapovalov in the second game of the second set. Shapovalov came back to break Kyrgios in the next game, and the Canadian fist pumped in excitement.
Kyrgios broke Shapovalov again to take a 5-3 advantage and win the set.
Serving was a big point throughout the match. Kyrgios’s serve reached 219 kilometres per/hour while Shapovalov’s reached just 187 km/h. The Canadian finished with 12 aces against 13 from his opponent.
Kyrgios was seen chatting with the line judge on several occasions throughout the game. The righty had 12 double faults early on and finished the match with 18.
Canadians Steven Diez and Peter Polansky advanced to the second round earlier Monday.
Toronto’s Diez downed Britain’s Kyle Edmund 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 while Polansky, of Thornhill, Ont., advanced following a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over American qualifier Tim Smyczek.
Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., was set to play American Sam Querrey on centre court Monday night.
Fourth-seeded Milos Raonic of Thornhill has a bye in the first round.
American No. 9 seed John Isner downed Dudi Sela of Israel 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 while Australia’s Bernard Tomic beat Columbia’s Alejandro Gonzalez 6-4, 7-6 (1) in afternoon draws.
Women
Barbora Strycova overcame numerous rain delays to beat Caroline Garcia of France 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in first-round action at the women’s tournament in Montreal.
Strycova, ranked 22nd in the world, came from behind to defeat 22-year-old wild-card Garcia in an afternoon session plagued by five rain delays lasting a combined four hours.
Also in the afternoon session, American Madison Brengle defeated Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 while Daria Gavrilova topped Annika Beck 6-4, 6-3.
The odds are stacked against the Austrian Gavrilova in the second round. Her next opponent is fifth seed Simona Halep.
Canadians Eugenie Bouchard and Aleksandra Wozniak were not in action on Monday.