Denis Shapovalov is into the semifinals of the Rome Masters after beating 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in 3 sets 6-2, 3-6, and 6-2.
How was he able to do it?
The match started on serve and we saw an aggressive game from Shapovalov right from the start hitting clean shots from both sides forehand and backhand. He was able to earn 3 breakpoints playing some great tennis putting pressure on Dimitrov early and took the early break as Dimitrov hit a shot into the net to lead 2-1.
The 21-year-old went back to work in the third game looking for the early break and managed to get early breakpoints as the Haskovo, Bulgaria born player made an untimely unforced error sending a forehand into the net.
We saw a bit of a pushback in the next game when the Bulgarian managed to put the Canadian in a 0-30 hole but the 12th seed managed to hold serve and keep his break to lead 3-1. The Nassau Bahamas had another great chance to break when he was up 15-40 at 4-2 and he did just that hitting a great winner down the line to make it 5-2.
He was able to serve out the first set and take it by a score of 6-2. Into the second set we go and the Monte Carlo resident had no trouble at all winning the opening service game while the Tel Aviv born player had a hiccup in the next game in a long game that went to deuce twice before he was able to hold serve.
The 12th seed went right back to work trying to get the break back to go back on serve and responded by getting two more breakpoints on the 15th seed serve. He would get the break back after an intense rally that would ultimately end with the Bulgarian sending the ball into the net.
He would hold the next service game to make it 3-3 but Dimitrov would once again come up big having a love service game to make it 4-3. The Monte Carlo resident would end up breaking the next game as the Canadian played a poor service game to take another lead 5-3. He would end up serving out the second set 6-3 and the match would go into a deciding third set.
The third set proved to be quite a show with a spot in the semi-finals on the line and the Nassau Bahamas resident didn't disappoint playing a solid rally at the net to earn his first break point of the set. He would take that break to take an early 2-0 lead. Shapovalov would have no trouble at all holding serve in the next game to make it 3-0 and he was halfway there.
The pair would both hold serve and stayed on serve until 5-2 when the Canadian had two match points. The Bulgarian would save one forcing Shapovalov to make the error but on the second one, he would make no mistake sending a winner past him to take the match.
With the win, Shapovalov will enter the top 10 next week and will face either Rafael Nadal or Diego Schwartzman in the semi-finals tomorrow.
