In a war of attrition here at La Caja Magica, Denis Shapovalov finally saw off the brave efforts of Britain’s Kyle Edmund after 2 hours and 27 minutes of gripping tennis, 7-5 6-7 (6) 6-4.
Denis Shapovalov (zimbio.com)
The opening set saw Edmund get the early break to go 2-0 up, only to lose his break advantage immediately as Shapovalov levelled for 2-2. The Canadian’s shot making is a sight to behold off both wings, and Edmund had his hands full defending against it.
Games went with serve until Edmund, serving at 5-6, went down break point when his forehand up the line flew long, and he lost the next point going for too much on his forehand up the centre to concede the 49 minute set, 7-5.
At 4-4 in the second set, Edmund hit a fabulous backhand cross court pass and a couple of unforced errors on the forehand wing of the Canadian saw the Brit earn himself two break points. The Canadian nailed an inside out forehand for a clean winner and in the next point unleashed a fierce backhand up the line to force the error from his opponent. He held serve two point later with an ace.
At 5-5 30-30, Shapovalov served an ace up the centre, however, Edmund’s attempt to return the ball was hindered by a woman screaming out in support of the Canadian. Edmund wanted the point to be replayed, but the umpire gave the point to Shapovalov to the Brit’s annoyance. He argued his case to no avail and the Canadian was unwilling to serve again. The Brit’s concentration was temporarily disturbed and he served two consecutive double faults to go down 0-30 before regrouping in the nick of time, saving a match point in the process to force the tiebreak.
A scorching running forehand winner up the line gave the Brit a 5-3 lead, but he was soon pegged back to 5-5 when his short forehand approach found the net. He served an ace up the centre for his first set point which the Canadian staved off with a service winner. The Brit breathed a sigh of relief when a Shapovalov forehand approach went long and his perseverance paid off when on serve, he saw the Shapovalov backhand return fly long to level at one set all after almost 2 hours of play.
Going into the final set, Shapovalov proved to be the stronger marginally, and he rode home on an early break advantage, serving out the match to love with an ace.
Shapovalov spoke about how he was able to regroup mentally after being match point up in the second set, only to lose the set at the end of a nail-biting tiebreak.
“It wasn’t easy but I took a bit of a break, went to the wash room and cooled down a little bit”, Shapovalov said. “It was kind of similar to what happened in Brisbane this year against Kyle; I won the first and we had a really close tiebreak in the second. I missed a pretty easy overhead and he took the second and I got broken first game of the final set and he just held, so I tried to learn from that and I think I did that really well today. As soon as the second set was done I just told myself it’s in the past and told myself to just focus on the third. Focus on every point this set and I’m really proud of the way I handled myself mentally.”
This rivalry seems to produce great matches between the two and the Canadian says that he relishes the matches that they have.
“We have a really similar game styles. We both go big on our serves and we love to dictate with the forehand. It’s really tricky to play Kyle. When he’s on I’m not seeing the ball at all. He’s slapping winners left and right, so it’s tough to play a player like this. In my opinion he’s so talented and he’s going to go so far in this sport and he’s done a great job this year and I’m sure he’s going to get better and keep on improving. I feel like every time we play we have a thriller match and it’s fun to be on the court with him. To be honest, we have had some incredible matches and it’s always a pleasure to play him.”
Speaking about the controversial incident toward the end of the second set, Shapovalov was sympathetic but firm in his opinions on the outcome.
“As I was tossing the ball a lady yelled out, and I served and I’m not sure if he was intending to play it or not, I mean it’s too fast. Obviously, I felt really bad and I felt awful about it, but I was really sure what to do in the situation. At the end of the day I think it’s the ref ‘s call, he has to make the decision, that’s why he’s there on the court. It’s not up to me and it’s not up to Kyle. That’s why we have ref’s in the first place. It’s tough to put the blame on me to replay that at such a big point in the match. As I’m tossing the ball, maybe if the ref yells out ‘Stop!’ or if I had stopped. I mean something could have been done, but no one did anything, so I pursued to serve. It’s a really tough situation and like I said, I felt really bad, but at the end of the day it’s not my call. It’s up to the ref.”
The Canadian is feeling confident able his chances of reaching his first Masters 1000 final whoever he plays tomorrow.
“It’s going to be a tough match tomorrow, but I think I can win whether it’s John (Isner) or Alex (zverev). It’s going to be extremely tough, they both are playing with a lot of confidence. They have been playing some of the best tennis of their lives, so it’s not going to be easy.”
For Edmund, the disappointment of losing such a close match that could have gone either way was softened somewhat by the knowledge that he will debut inside the top 20 next week.
