@Sportshorn
With all due respect to the birth of Serena Williams baby girl, Maria Sharapova’s comeback and Roger Federer’s struggles, Denis Shapovalov is quickly becoming “the” story at the US Open. Shapovalov from Richmond Hill Ontario, about 50 minutes from Toronto, punched his ticket to the fourth round of the US Open after his opponent Kyle Edmund retired after just one game in the fourth set with an apparent neck and back injury.
Shapovalov dropped the first set 6-3 but came back to win the next two by the same 6-3 scores. He held serve to start the fourth set but that’s when Edmund decided he could no longer continue. Shapovalov, at 18-years old, becomes the youngest Men’s player to reach the Round of 16 at the US Open since Michael Chang in 1989. He also matches the best run by a Canadian in Men’s singles equalling Milos Raonic who got to the fourth round in 2014.
“When the week started, first of all, I had to go through qualifying, so…. you never know who you’re going to get,” said Shapovalov. “I had a pretty tough draw to qualify. I had Denis Kudla first round who has made third or fourth round at Wimbledon. It wasn’t easy. I did have that confidence that I can make it this far, but, you know, to be honest, this whole season has been going really quickly for me. My goal was to be inside the 150 by the end of the year when I had started, and now top 50 seems doable.”
Things didn’t get off to a good start for the fearless lefty. Edmund broke him in his first service game and got off to a 3-0 lead. Shapovalov got back on serve two games later after a forehand winner down the line coupled with an Edmund double fault. However, in the seventh game, a pair of errors including a forehand on game point gave the break back to Edmund.
Shapovalov did have a chance to get back on level ground again in Edmund’s next service game but the World No 42 fought back to take the opening set in 35 minutes. After just 19 errors in his second round match against Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Shapovalov had 15 in the first set alone.
In the second, Shapovalov turned things around. He cut down on his mistakes and began taking the play to Edmund. His first break of the Brit in the set came in the third game after an Edmund forehand went long. Shapovalov managed to hold serve for the rest of the set despite four double faults.
In the third, Edmund held serve to go up 3-2, but he then called for the physiotherapist after appearing to have discomfort in his neck and back. After a medical timeout the 22-year old never appeared to be the same. Shapovalov rattled off 12 straight points to go up 5-3 and then won his fourth straight game breaking Edmund again to close out the set.
Down 1-0 and before the start of his first service game in the fourth, Edmund looked up to his team in his box and before even attempting a serve called it a day. A frustrating way for a match to end but Shapovalov will take it winning his second straight match on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“The month of August has been absolutely life changing for me,” said Shapovalov. ” I’m actually very thankful for my team for helping me stay humble and just prepare for every match, like it’s another match, but I feel like after the Open, I’m going to have a little bit of time to take it all in, everything that’s been happening to me. And, yeah, you know, I’m playing great tennis and I’m just trying to take it one day at a time.
Shapovalov finished with eight aces in the match, 36 winners, 32 errors and continued his strong play at the net winning 16 of 21 points there. He will now face 12th seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the fourth round. Carreno Busta hasn’t dropped a set in his first three matches. He beat another Canadian at a Grand Slam this year taking down Milos Raonic in the fourth round at this years French Open.
