Clash with Tsonga awaits Shapovalov

• Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to t he second round of the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6- 3, 7- 6 ( 5) victory over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday.

It’s the first main- draw win at the Australian Open for the 18- year- old from Richmond Hill, Ont.

Shapovalov won 57 per cent of his f i rst service points and converted on five of eight break points. He also had nine aces and 33 winners.

“I think I played extremely well today,” Shapovalov said.

Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil dropped a 6-2, 6-2, 4- 6, 7- 6 ( 5) decision to sixth- seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia.

Three Canadians are scheduled to play their opening matches Tuesday.

Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., the No. 22 seed, is slated to play Lukas Lacko of Slovakia. Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., faces Karen Khachanov of Russia, while Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., draws Oceane Dodin of France.

Shapovalov, c urrently ranked No. 50, will face 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round.

Shapovalov beat t he 32- year- old Tsonga in their only career matchup at the U.S. Open last summer.

“It would be an honour to play him again,” Shapovalov said.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens were upset in another bad day for U.S. tennis.

Williams lost to Belinda Bencic 6- 3, 7- 5, while U. S. Open champion Stephens fell 2- 6, 7- 6 ( 2), 6- 2 to No. 34-ranked Zhang Shuai.

They were followed by losses from No. 10- seeded CoCo Vandeweghe, CiCi Bellis, Sofia Kenin, Alison Riske, Taylor Townsend and Jennifer Brady. Nicole Gibbs beat Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-1 to end the streak of eight losses for the U. S. women. No. 8-seeded Jack Sock, John Isner, seeded 16th, and U. S. qualifier Kevin King all lost.

Top- ranked male Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Grigor Dimitrov opened with routine wins, as did secondseeded women Caroline Wozniacki and No. 4 Elina Svitolina.