Home hopes were dashed Wednesday at the ATP Toronto Masters as Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime exited in the second ro...
Home hopes were dashed Wednesday at the ATP Toronto Masters as Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime exited in the second round.
Fifth-seeded Shapovalov became the highest-ranked seed to lose a match – number two Rafael Nadal withdrew before playing – as he fell 6-1, 6-4 to good friend Frances Tiafoe. Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic defeated Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 6-4.
“I didn’t feel like the conditions were easy, a little bit windy and the ball flying a bit off my racquet,” Auger-Aliassime said.
“Every day conditions in tennis are a little bit different, you’ve got to try to adapt to them. I thought I served well, but the margins were pretty small. I just have to accept the situation, there’s nothing more to do right now.”
Shapovalov was buried by American Tiafoe, a lucky loser from qualifying who had lost four previous matches against his northern rival.
“That was a big one,” Tiafoe said. “After he beat me so much, I had to stop the bleeding. I needed to win this one, to set the tone, not let him run the table on me.”
Shapovalov has now dropped three matches in a row, at Wimbledon and last month in the Swiss alpine village of Gstaad where he was top seed. The Canadian threw in...
