(Melbourne) Denis Shapovalov earned his place in the third round at the Australian Open on Wednesday, losing 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 6-7(6), 7-5, 6 -2 to Soonwoo Kwon, South Korea.
Updated at 6:26 a.m.
The 22-year-old Canadian needed four and a half hours.
Shapovalov had a 7-4 break advantage and had 29 aces.
He committed 10 double faults, but his rival did his good part too (six).
The winners were overwhelmingly in favor of the Canadian (81-29), and Shapovalov scored on 33 out of 40 net climbs.
In the next round, Shapovalov will face Reilly Opelka, with whom he has never crossed swords. The American is the 23and headliner in Melbourne.
Earlier Wednesday, Rafael Nadal advanced to the third round as well, winning 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 ahead of Yannick Hanfmann.
The German qualifier occupies the 126and ATP rank.
Sixth seed, Nadal aims for 21and major singles title.
He clinched victory in two hours and 42 minutes, when his rival sent a forehand too far.
Nadal converted four of his 16 break chances. He was confronted with only two such bullets and fended them off.
In the third round, the Spaniard will be rivaled by Karen Khachanov, 28and seeded, or the Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi.
The 35-year-old Nadal shares the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Federer is not playing in Australia, recovering from an injury.
Djokovic, nine times champion in Melbourne, had his visa canceled for not respecting Australian rules on vaccinations, linked to the pandemic.
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, seeded seventh, beat American Stefan Kozlov 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.