@SportsHorn
There haven’t been too many bright spots for Canadian men at their hometown Rogers Cup in 2017. Seven men tried to qualify for the main draw but none of the seven were able to do so. Vasek Pospisil lost in the first round to fellow Canadian Peter Polansky but he will now have the task of facing the hottest player on the ATP Tour in Roger Federer in the next round.
However, on a sunny Tuesday afternoon on Court Central in Montreal, 18 year old Denis Shapovalov from Richmond Hill, Ontario thrilled the Canadian fans with a come from behind 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva in two hours and 25 minutes.
Shapovalov, ranked 143rd in the world and playing just his ninth main draw ATP Tour match, showed a lot of guts and resiliency after a sloppy first set. The left hander did get off to a good start after breaking Dutra Silva early to go up 3-1 but he was unable to put much together for the rest of the set getting broken at Love in the following game. He proceeded to lose five of the the final six games to drop the opening set. An astounding 21 errors and winning just 16 of his 30 points on serve didn’t help matters either.
Both players held serve throughout the second set but in the 11th game, Dutra Silva had a great opportunity to take control of the match. Already with the opener in his back pocket, the Brazilian had three break point chances to go up 6-5 but was unable to convert. Instead it was Shapovalov who won three straight points and made some nifty shots to hold serve giving a big fist pump to the crowd in doing so. After the 33-year old held serve, it was time for a highly entertaining tiebreak.
Shapovalov fired four of his 12 aces in the breaker and fought off four match points. One of those, down 6-5 included an incredible volley that just skimmed over the net to keep the match alive. Another example of the youngsters confidence and lack of nerves in front of a pro Canadian crowd who then began chants of “Denis, Denis” in French.
After exchanging four more points, now 8-8, Dutra Silva missed a routine backhand throwing his racquet in disgust. On the next point he double faulted the set away and the crowd went into a frenzy. Wayne Gretzky was one of those Canadians cheering on Shapovalov. Arguably the greatest ice hockey player of all time, “The Great One”, was a guest in his players box.
In the final set, both players had some shaky moments but they each held serve until the seventh game. Shapovalov converted his second break hitting a huge backhand passing shot past Dutra Silva to go up 4-3. Unable to close out the match with two break points against Dutra Silva’s serve, he was able to get it done in the next game on his own serve at love. The final serve handcuffing the No. 64 ranked player in the world. Shapovalov dropped his racquet and raised his arms in the air in celebration and the Montreal crowd gave the young Canadian a standing ovation. Perhaps not the biggest moment of his tennis career but likely the biggest win of his tennis career.
“I thought I could win the whole time. I mean, I never lost faith,” said Shapovalov after the match. “That’s very important because at times I didn’t feel like I was playing great tennis. Obviously I was playing good, but I felt like I could have played better in certain points. I just tried to stay tough, just kept fighting. I think I had a breakpoint or a couple chances in the second set. I felt like I was there. Then obviously after the breaker, I felt the momentum was shifting towards my way.”
Shapovalov won just his second ATP match in eight tries but won’t get a lot of time to celebrate his victory. He will play his next opponent, Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round on Wednesday afternoon.
