Dominic Thiem battled past 2017 semifinalist Denis Shapovalov 6-4 3-6 6-3 at the Roger’s Cup in Montreal to stop his losing streak of five consecutive defeats on Canadian soil.
Thiem made a winning start to his North-American hard court campaign just a few days after his first title in Kitzbuhel in font of his home fans. The player from Wiener Neustadt has extended his winning streak to five consecutive matches.
Thiem fended off four of the five break points he faced. The Austrian player broke serve at 4-4 to seal the opening set, as Shapovalov made a double fault.
Shapovalov converted the only break point chance in the sixth game to win the second set 6-3.
Both players went on serve until 3-4 in the third set, before Thiem broke serve in the eighth game earning a chance to serve out the match, as Shapovalov hit an overhead into the net.
Thiem set up a second round match agianst Marin Cilic, who beat John Millman 6-3 6-4.
“Every win is special in the tournaments because it’s only against great opponents. Against Thiem, it was special because he is a local hero. All the crowd was supporting him, so it was tough”, said Thiem.
