(Barcelona) Canadian Denis Shapovalov lost in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday in the third round of the Barcelona Tennis Open.
In a duel that lasted just 76 minutes, Shapovalov was erratic, committing 12 double faults against the No. 5 player in the world and the tournament’s second seed. He hit five aces.
Eight of the Canadian’s double faults, 28e in the ATP rankings, were committed in the first round, including the eighth on a set point.
“I tried to be as aggressive as possible from the baseline,” Tsitsipas said. Against Denis, you have to keep up the pace and be ready to attack when you can. It was not easy, but I did a very good job. I was wise in my choice of game. I had a good day. »
Shapovalov finished the duel with a 46% success percentage in first serves, compared to 66% for Tsitsipas. Also, the Ontarian won only 35% of the points after using a second service ball.
Shapovalov gave his opponent nine break points and flinched four times, twice in each of two sets.
He lost his serve for the first time in the third game of the clash. He was also broken in his last two serve appearances in the second set.
For his part, Tsitsipas only faced two break points, both in the seventh game of the second set, which he managed to erase.
As 14e The tournament’s seeded Shapovalov was granted a bye in the first round. In his second-round match on Wednesday, Shapovalov knocked out Slovak Jozef Kovalik in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
In the quarter-finals, Tsitsipas will face Australian Alex De Minaur, who reached this stage of the tournament following the withdrawal of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
In another third-round game Thursday, Jannik Sinner of Italy, ranked eighth in the world, needed three sets to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
For its part, the 10e seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina defeated Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 7-5.
