SHAPOVALOV MARCHES ON
Canadian moves to Cup semis
Denis Shapovalov has to come up with some new goals.
The 18-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., had his sights set on a place in the top-100 in the ATP rankings this year, but a successful run at the Rogers Cup has guaranteed him a place in the mid-60s — and he’s not finished.
Shapovalov reached the semifinals of the $4.9-million event Friday night with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarter-final win over Adrian Mannarino of France. Shapovalov broke Mannarino to take a 5-4 lead in the deciding set and then served out the match.
In Saturday’s 8 p.m. semifinal, Shapovalov will meet fourthseeded German Alexander Zverev, who defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-5, 6-4 in the late match Friday.
Shapovalov’s win once again highlighted his resilience and his ability to come up with big shots when he needed them.
He had a slow start and was broken on his first two service games. He had nine aces but he also double-faulted seven times. And his first-serve percentage was only 51 per cent.
But he also made adjustments when Mannarino tried to slow the pace and he fought off eight of the 11 break points against him.
The victory wasn’t as stunning as his win over top-seeded Rafael Nadal less than 24 hours earlier, but he made more history as he became the youngest to reach the semifinals of an ATP Masters 1000 event since the circuit began in 1990.
After a disastrous first set, the momentum changed in Shapovalov’s favour after a brief rain delay halted play with Shapovalov holding a 3-2 lead on serve in the second set. Because the delay wasn’t more than 10 minutes, there was no warmup for Mannarino and he was broken at 15-40. Shapovalov held his serve the rest of the way to knot the match at a set apiece.
“I started off pretty slow, just drained from yesterday,” Shapovalov said. “Rafa took a lot out of me. But Adrian did a good job in the first set, really taking it to me.
“Yeah, I felt like he was just really solid, wasn’t giving me anything. I felt a little bit rushed. I tried to slow things down in the second.
“Obviously, the rain delay helped me. During the rain delay, I kind of told myself, you know, this could be a really good turning point,” Shapovalov said. “It’s giving him a little bit of time to think about his game. He got a little bit cold. It’s always tough to come out and serve after having, you know, 11, 12 minutes off.”
Before this tournament, Shapovalov had three wins at the ATP Tour level; the four players he has beaten in Montreal had a combined 1,356 wins.
Shapovalov came into this tournament ranked No. 143, but he’s projected to jump to No. 66, with a further jump if he wins Saturday. He is guaranteed $220,780 in prize money, eclipsing his career earnings of $197,661.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer continued his pursuit of a third Rogers Cup title, but his first in Montreal.
Federer eased into the semifinals with a workmanlike 6-4, 6-4 win over 12th-seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain.
Next up for Federer at 3 p.m. Saturday is unseeded Robin Haase of the Netherlands, who said he was lucky to come back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
Federer, playing his first tournament since winning his eighth Wimbledon title, struggled a bit at the beginning of his Thursday match against Spanish veteran David Ferrer and was forced to play three sets. But he seemed more composed Friday.
“I believe I served better earlier in the match, but I don’t think Bautista-Agut returned as well as Ferrer,” Federer said. “Both things combined, two major factors in a beginning of a match, I was able to get into the match better.”
Haase and Schwartzman were both looking to reach their first semifinal in an ATP Masters 1000 event. Haase said it was difficult for both players after playing tough three-set matches against seeded players earlier in the week.
“I played a lot of good matches, especially yesterday against (seventh-seeded Grigor) Dimitrov,” Haase said. “It’s tough to come back and play that same level. I didn’t, but I managed to win because I kept fighting. You could see that we were both mentally (tired). It took a lot of us. We beat good guys.”