Fresh off the heels of a breakthrough performance at the Rogers Cup last week and an impressive victory over Australia’s Luke Saville in the first round, Canadian wild card Denis Shapovalov looked clinical in a 6-4, 6-1 victory over eighth-seeded Frenchman Gregoire Barrere, delighting the locals with a picture-perfect performance at the Coupe Banque Nationale De Granby.
Second Time Proves to Be the Charm for Shapovalov in Securing Opener
After exchanging holds to open proceedings, it was Shapovalov who began the brighter of the two, benefiting from a series of unforced errors from the Frenchman to draw first blood, breaking at the first time of asking, before consolidating with the help of some massive first-strike tennis to take an early 3-1 lead. From there, both men would exchange holds before Shapovalov began to beg the question from the receiving end once more, earning a trio of break points to go a double break to the good. Despite failing to capitalize on the first pair of opportunities, it proved to be a case of third time lucky for the Canadian as another massive return was enough to secure him the double break and with it, a commanding 5-2 lead.
Barrere, however, was not prepared to go down without a fight, fighting valiantly from the brink with some ruthless hitting, thus creating his first break point of the contest—one that he would proficiently take to break straight back, before consolidating to put the pressure right back on the world number 291.
Now attempting to seal the deal the second time around at 5-4, Shapovalov displayed great maturity, serving the set out in emphatic style, this time at love, to win it 6-4 in 29 minutes.
Shapovalov Breaks Thrice En Route to Sealing the Deal
Picking up right where he left off, Shapovalov showed little signs of slowing down, breaking to open the second set before consolidating at love with his third ace, as Barrere continued to struggle with the Canadian’s heavy, left-handed topspin. Things quickly went from bad to worse for the Frenchman thereafter as Shapovalov pounced on another opportunity to break, set up by a series of uncharacteristic miscues from Barrere, doing so as another wayward forehand from the eighth seed found the tramlines. In a matter of minutes, the junior Wimbledon champion found himself from a set up, to within two games of a spot in the quarterfinals at a set and 4-0 up.
To his credit, Barrere managed to stave off a break point en route to getting on the board, but that proved to be no match for the onslaught of Shapovalov, who responded with a hold of his own before breaking for the fifth time to secure a clinical 6-4, 6-1 victory over the eighth-seeded Frenchman in just 49 minutes.
Shapovalov to Meet Bangoura in Quarterfinals
Much to the delight of the locals, Shapovalov will now meet unseeded American Sekou Bangoura, who defeated Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev after the Kazakhstani was forced to retire six games in the match, for a place in the final four.
The pair has never met in singles, however, they did face off Wednesday evening in doubles with their respective partners; Shapovalov and fellow Canadian junior Félix Auger-Aliassime edged out Bangoura and Ireland’s David O’Hare 12-10 in the match tiebreak.