Denis Shapovalov confirmed little signal of rust in his return to the ATP Tour after a five-week absence, selecting up a win in his first match on clay of 2022 in straight units over Ugo Humbert on the Mutua Madrid Open.
In a battle of lanky lefties, Shapovalov was a bit of extra strong than his French opponent and got here up huge when he wanted to most, convert his probabilities to assert a 7-6(1), 6-3 victory.
The win is simply Shapovalov’s second in Madrid since he reached the semi-finals in his 2018 debut on the occasion.
It was a really sturdy serving efficiency by the Canadian, who struck 5 aces and gained 70 p.c of his second serve factors. He added 21 winners, though he additionally dedicated 28 unforced errors. Shapovalov additionally gained each single break level within the match, changing his solely alternative on Humbert’s serve whereas saving all 9 he confronted.
The primary set was somewhat uneventful, with each gamers cruising on serve. Neither confronted a break level or was even pushed to deuce, so a tiebreak was wanted to resolve it.
On the primary level of the tiebreak, Shapovalov was sad with a Humbert backhand that was referred to as in, confirmed by the umpire getting out of his chair to take a look, regardless of the Canadians protests.
As a response, Shapovalov used his frustration as gas as he gained the subsequent seven straight factors, together with a clear return winner to take a double-minibreak lead at 4-1, to take the opening set.
After no break factors within the opening set, each gamers began to face strain on serve at first of the second. Shapovalov confronted the primary break level of the match within the opening recreation, saving it with a powerful overhead winner from the baseline, after which responded by notching the primary break of the match within the very subsequent recreation to go up 2-0.
Humbert had an opportunity to get the break again within the fifth recreation when he went forward love-40, however the Canadian was as much as the duty, profitable 5 straight factors, together with two unreturnable serves on the primary two break factors, to take care of his break lead. He additionally survived a 10-minute service recreation to maneuver inside one in all victory at 5-2.
Serving for the match, he once more needed to dig deep, saving 4 break factors, two with forehand winners, earlier than changing his second match level with one other unreturned serve.
Shapovalov has a gauntlet of former Grand Slam winners forward of him in Madrid. He’ll meet Andy Murray within the second spherical on Tuesday, with a possible spherical three conflict with Novak Djokovic on the horizon. The Canadian gained his lone earlier assembly with Murray final 12 months on grass at Wimbledon in straight units.
No All-Canadian Doubles Conflict
Two Canadian girls have been on a collision course within the Madrid doubles, but it surely was to not be.
Gabriela Dabrowski and associate Giuliana Olmos, the second seeds, received their marketing campaign off to a profitable begin with a three-set win over Xinyun Han and Alexandra Panova.
The Canadian-Mexican pair didn’t have issues completely their very own approach, as they have been compelled to rally from a set down after which survive a decent match tiebreak earlier than advancing with a 6-7, 6-4, 10-8 victory.
Leylah Annie Fernandez noticed her time in Madrid come to an finish after she and associate Katerina Siniakova have been crushed within the second spherical in straight units by Tereza Mihalikova and Ulrikke Eikeri. Had Fernandez gained, she would have met Dabrowski within the third spherical.
The Montrealer additionally misplaced within the second spherical of singles on Sunday.
Dabrowski will play her third-round doubles match in opposition to Mihalikova and Eikeri on Tuesday.
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