Canada’s Denis Shapovalov advanced to the second round of the tournament on Tuesday in Adelaide, Australia.
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The seventh seedling of this ATP 250 tournament defeated the Australian from the qualifier Rinky Hijikata in three sets 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
In their two-hour duel, Shapovalov hit seven aces but committed a whopping nine double faults. Luckily, his rival didn’t fare any better with two aces and five double faults.
The Maple Leaf representative broke the serve of the 162nd player in the world four times in 12 times. He also saved five of the eight break points offered by his rival.
Shapovalov, 18th male athlete on the world chessboard, has a date with Russian Roman Safiulin. The latter points to 88th place in the ATP ranking.
However, the 23-year-old Ontarian will be back on court in Adelaide tonight as he is set to play his second doubles match of the competition. In addition to the American Sebastian Korda, “Shapo” meets the Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.