ROME: Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov pulled off another big win, overcoming a slow start to beat 15th-seeded Tomas Berdych 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the first round of the Italian Open yesterday.
The 19-year-old Shapovalov is coming off a semi-final appearance in last week’s Madrid Open, where he beat fellow Canadian Milos Raonic in the Round of 16.
Already up to a career-high ranking of 29th this week, the victory over Berdych will move Shapovalov ahead of No. 22 Raonic when next week’s rankings come out – making him the top Canadian.
Shapovalov is already the youngest player in the top 30 since Richard Gasquest reached No. 17 in 2005 at the age of 19.
Showing off his crafty game, Shapovalov made an audacious foray to the net to conclude one point with an overhead smash as he ran out to a 4-0 lead in the decisive tiebreaker.
Berdych came back to make it 5-5 but the left-handed Shapovalov then drew his opponent into the net and unleashed a wicked one-handed backhand passing shot down the line.
On his first match point, Shapovalov wrong-footed Berdych with another shot down the line that his opponent couldn’t get back.
The risk-taking Shapovalov committed twice as many unforced errors as Berdych but also hit more than three times as many winners.
On a day in which the start of play was delayed and then interrupted by rain, 14th-seeded Diego Schwartzman eliminated Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 6-1, and 16th-seeded Lucas Pouille held off Italian wild card Andreas Seppi before a partisan crowd, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3)
Greek qualifier Stefanos Tsitsipas, who reached the final of the Barcelona Open last month, advanced when Borna Coric retired while trailing 4-1.
Damir Dzumhur downed Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-3, 6-1, and Nikoloz Basilashvili knocked out Italian Filippo Baldi 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
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