Denis Shapovalov beat the Frenchman Ugo Humbert in straight sets 7-6, 6-3 in one hour and 57 minutes to reach the next round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
The Toronto native hit 21 winners and served five aces while his rival produced 22 unforced errors in the match.
Both players did an impeccable job of holding serve in the opening set and the it needed to be decided by a tiebreaker. That was where the Canadian completely turned the match. Shapovalov turned the gas on and only lost one point in the breaker en route to winning it 7-1 and taking the first set 7-6.
The Canadian rode the momentum into the second set where after holding the opening service game went on the attack once again and broke to take an early 2-0 lead.
At 3-1 the Frenchman earned three breakpoints to go back on serve but the world number 16 saved all three and at 4-2 saved another breakpoint with a powerful forehand.
With Shapovalov serving for the match, the Metz native continued to fight back earning three more chances to break but again was denied by the Toronto native who was finally able to serve it out.
Shapovalov will next face the Britt Andy Murray in the next round after he was able to get by Dominic Thiem earlier in the day in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
The Canadian currently leads their head to head 1-0 with their first ever meeting coming at Wimbledon last summer where he was able to beat him in straight sets.
