Canadian Denis Shapovalov caused a surprise on Sunday by reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
To get there, the 14th ranked ATP player prevailed in three sets 6-3, 7-6(5) and 6-3 against the tournament’s third seed and semi-finalist in the competition in 2020, German Alexander Zverev.
Like his compatriot Félix Auger-Aliassime on Saturday, “Shapo” signed a much faster match than his previous ones by disposing of the German player much more passive than usual in two hours and 24 minutes.
“It was probably the game I least expected to finish and three innings,” the Canadian shared with the media late in the game. “I felt things were going my way early on, lost a bit of momentum in moto two, but fought hard to come back and just rode with it from there.”
Shapovalov signed the best result of his career at Melbourne Park, he who had never passed the 3rd round during this competition. In the next round, he will find the Spaniard Rafael Nadal. This will be the 5th duel between the 22-year-old Canadian and the 35-year-old Spaniard. Nadal has won three of the last four meetings, but both are tied (1-1) for games played on hard courts.