Denis Shapovalov edges Steve Johnson to advance to the second round in Tokyo - UBITENNIS

Denis Shapovalov edges Steve Johnson to advance to the second round in Tokyo

By sampaolo
3 Min Read

Seventh seed Denis Shapovalov dropped just one point on his first serve in his 6-3 7-6 (7-3) win over Steve Johnson at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo.

Shapovalov fired 11 aces and did not face any break points. 

Shapovalov broke twice in the seventh and ninth games from 3-3 to close out the first set 6-3. 

Both players went on serve with no break points en route to the tie-break. Shapovalov earned two mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2. 

The Canadian player will take on Japanese qualifier Rio Noguchi for a spot in the quarter finals. 

“This was definitely one of my best serving matches. I felt like I needed to against Johnson.Obviously if I am giving him a lot of looks on second serves, then he is going to capitalize and put a lot of pressure. I am very happy with my serving performance today and hopefully I can keep it throughout the week. The courts are playing pretty quickly, so you are putting a lot of first serves in, I think the percentage to win the point is really here”, said Shapovalov. 

Miomir Kecmanovic came back from one set down to beat last week’s Seoul champion Yoshihito Nishioka 2-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2. Kecmanovic went up a 2-0 lead with an early break in the second game. Nishoka came back by winning six consecutive games with three consecutive breaks. 

Kecmanovic went up a break at love in the sixth game of the second set to take a 4-2 lead. Nishioka broke back in the ninth game to draw level to 5-5. Kecmanovic earned four mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2. Kecmanovic broke twice in the first and third games to win the third set 6-2. 

Kwon Soon-woo overcame Mackenzie McDonald 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-2. Soon-woo broke twice in the first and ninth games to win the first set 6-3. The second set went on serve with no break points. The South Korean player went up a mini-break to take a 3-1 lead, but McDonald won six of the next seven points with two mini-breaks to take the tie-break 7-4. Kwon broke twice in the first and seventh games to win the third set 6-2.

Leave a comment