Shapovalov Ends Martinez's Run In Rome

Denis Shapovalov continues his smooth transition from hard courts to clay, ending qualifier Pedro Martinez’s four-match streak in straight sets at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday. The 12th seed prevailed 6-4, 6-4 to book a place in the third round.

In a first ATP Head2Head meeting between the pair, three breaks were traded before the Canadian carried the advantage to clinch the opening set. The Spaniard – who had beaten Sam Querrey for his first ATP Masters 1000 match win on Monday – snatched an early 3-0 lead the second set, but Shapovalov soon exposed the gap of 95 places in the FedEx ATP Rankings to reel off six of the last games.

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While he only won 57 per cent of his first-serve points for the match, he sealed a third-round berth in one hour and 42 minutes. The 21-year-old next meets Italian No. 7 seed Fabio Fognini or Frenchman Ugo Humbert for a place in the quarter-finals.

Shapovalov arrived in Rome coming off his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final appearance at the US Open. He showed no signs of struggling to adapt to the slower clay-court conditions in back-to-back straight-sets wins, having accounted for Argentine Guido Pella in the opening round.

 

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2FDOFo3