ATP St. Petersburg: Shapovalov has to stretch against Andujar
After an initial effort, Denis Shapovalov made it through to the quarter-finals of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in St. Petersburg. The second seeded Canadian won against Pablo Andujar 2: 6, 6: 3 and
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Oct 27, 2021, 02:00 pm
Things are not going really well for Denis Shapovalov this year, with a few outliers: Above all, the semi-final at Wimbledon indicated what the 22-year-old Canadian is still capable of. Novak Djokovic was still a size too big. Shapovalov was in the final in Geneva, but lost to Casper Ruud there.
And so Stockholm 2019 is still the only tournament victory in the left-hander's vita, at least one more than his buddy Félix Auger-Aliassime. The ATP Tour 250 tournament in St. Petersburg would almost impose itself for a second title. In round one, Shapovalov, who was seeded in second position, had to stretch quite a bit, but then won against Pablo Andujar with 2: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 0.
Shapovalov almost without a chance at Turin
The next opponent will be either Alexander Bublik or Jan-Lennard Struff, which should also be feasible for Shapovalov. Aslan Karatsev, who celebrated a home win in Moscow on Sunday, would wait in the semifinals. And still hope to participate in the ATP Finals in Turin. Denis Shapovalov would certainly have liked to have competed there. But that would have to be almost a miracle: namely a triumph in St. Petersburg and, above all, the tournament victory in Paris-Bercy in the coming week.