“Happy to turn it around, ” Denis Shapovalov stuns a struggling Rafael Nadal on clay
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Denis Shapovalov
At the Internazionali BNL d’Italia a year ago, Denis Shapovalov had Rafael Nadal on the verge of winning, creating two match points before losing in a third-set tie-break. On Thursday in Rome, it was the Canadian who staged a comeback, winning 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 over an injured Nadal for the second time. The 13th seed progresses to his sixth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, denying the Spaniard a historic 100th appearance at that level.
Shapovalov won the final five games in the final set after Nadal laboured with an apparent foot injury, most likely related to his chronic left-foot problem. The one-sided outcome belied the contest’s hard-fought nature until that point, with a total of 17 breakpoints in the first two sets.
“I’m a huge fan of his, growing up”- Denis Shapovalov
Nadal did certainly set the tone early on, saving three break opportunities in his first return game before breaking twice more in the first set. Despite the 6-1 score, Shapovalov kept his threat alive and was rewarded early in the second. He began to dominate the bruising rallies that Nadal had won in the opener, breaking for 2-0 with more aggressive baseline play after saving three break points in a seven-deuce opening serve game.
The Spaniard hit nine consecutive points to tie the match at 4-4, but Shapovalov stepped up his game as Nadal began to struggle physically. After wasting a set point on the return at 5-4, the Canadian cashed in to take the set in a tie-break as Nadal tried to force a tie-break. With his movement limited, Shapovalov took full advantage to sprint away with the match — but he needed three match points as Nadal displayed his typical battling spirit one last time.
After his spectacular win, Denis Shapovalov said, “I was just trying to change something. He was completely outplaying me at the beginning of the match. Obviously the first set, the beginning of the second, I was just hanging in there. Definitely really happy to turn it around. Obviously, I’m a huge fan of his, growing up,” Shapovalov said of the Spaniard. “I watched him play so many times. Growing up, I wanted to play and behave like him. So I definitely super look up to him and hopefully he’s fit for [Roland Garros].”
Shapovalov, who climbed to No. 15 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week, improved to 2-4 against Nadal, winning his first ATP Head2Head match since his breakthrough triumph in Montreal in 2017. By winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Rome, the Canadian can climb as high as No. 11. Next up for him is fifth seed Casper Ruud, who is regaining form after a sluggish start to the European clay season by his standards.
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Pritha Ghosh
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