It was hyped as one of the better first round matchups in the Men’s draw at the Australian Open. It turned out to be a pretty one sided affair. 18-year old Canadian Dennis Shapovalov, who made huge strides on tour in 2017, defeated 19-year old Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 in an hour and 57 minutes.
Shapovalov, the World No 50, got off to a roaring start breaking Tsitsipas in his first two service games. Both breaks coming off the one handed backhand of the Canadian. The opening set was done in 26 minutes with Shapovalov failing to lose a point on his first serve (10 for 10).
It was more of the same in the 2nd set with Shapovalov, in his bright pink Nike gear, overpowering Tsitsipas and moving him all around the court. “Shapo” was consistently hitting the ball deep with his groundstrokes and finding the corners. After winning the second set he had 16 winners in the match to just five for his opponent and he had faced just one break point.
Tsitsipas started to play better in the third, looking more comfortable than the first two sets. After being broken in the second game on a forehand winner, Tsitsipas had just his second look at a break of his own in the third game and was able to convert.
The set went the distance and after an evenly played tiebreak through the first few points, Tsitsipas started cramping and the native of Ontario took advantage putting away the match with an overhead, his 33rd winner of the match.
Shapovalov played well at the net winning 21 of 26 points when he went there, He finished with nine aces and a 57-percent first serve percentage.
He will await the winner of the Kevin King vs Jo-Wilfred Tsonga first round match later on Monday. Shapovalov upset Tsonga in straight sets in the second round of the US Open last year.
@Sportshorn