Veteran Tsonga knocks off Shapo in five-set thriller
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA Denis Shapovalov’s run at the Australian Open is over.
The Canadian teen sensation suffered a stunning collapse in the final set and fell to No. 15 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in their second-round match Wednesday.
Shapovalov held a 5-2 lead in the fifth and deciding set, but Tsonga won the last five games to take the match.
Also Wednesday on the women’s side, second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki come back from 5-1 down in the third set and saved two match points to beat Jana Fett 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the second round. Fett is ranked 119th and was making her first appearance in the main singles draw of a Grand Slam tournament.
Wozniacki twice broke Fett’s service while the Croatian player was serving for the match, including the two match points in the seventh game. Wozniacki then broke Fett’s service in the 11th game, helped by a Fett double-fault on break point and an unforced error by the Croatian that ended a 26-point rally. She then held serve, clinching it on her first match point when Fett netted a backhand, giving her a six-game winning streak to end the match. Two days after her upset win over Venus Williams, Belinda Bencic bowed out of the Australian Open.
Bencic was on a high after beating 2017 finalist Williams on the centre court in the first round, but started flatly on Hisense Arena on Wednesday and lost 6-1, 6-3 to powerful hitting Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum.
Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., joined Milos Raonic on the sidelines after losing his first round match in three sets to Karen Khachanov of Russia 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-4.