Canadian Denis Shapovalov made his debut at the Barcelona tennis tournament on Wednesday, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 over Slovak Jozef Kovalik in the second round.
Having benefited from a pass for the second round of the competition on clay, the Ontarian needed 80 minutes to overcome the 155th player in the world, a rival from the qualifications. Also, he will have the opportunity to do battle with Stefanos Tsitsipas at his next meeting, since he easily disposed of the Argentinian Pedro Cachin.
No. 28 on the ATP Tour and the 14th seed in Spain, Shapovalov admittedly committed all four double faults in the clash, but he dominated 13-2 in terms of aces. He also saved all seven break points he faced, while taking the opposing serve twice.
Tsitsipas is the second seed in the event and fifth in the world. Despite the Greek’s fine track record, it was the Canadian who won the majority of the clashes between the two 24-year-old tennis players. “Shapo” escaped with three wins in four duels, most recently at the 2020 ATP Cup.
Finalist in Barcelona in 2018 and 2021, Tsitsipas was each time defeated in the final match by Rafael Nadal. This year, he intends to go all the way.
“It’s always a motivation to set foot on these courts. Obviously, the good memories here are in a corner of my mind. It’s still two finals [perdues]but I keep the positive rather than thinking too much about what went wrong,” he told the ATP website.
Moreover, Félix Auger-Aliassime is not taking part in the tournament.