Dominic Thiem Ends Denis Shapovalov Hopes of Winning the Rogers Cup

Denis Shapovalov was confident in his abilities to come away on with a win in the second round against Dominic Thiem, but he failed to pull it off falling to Thiem in three sets on Wednesday.

Shapovalov became the golden child of tennis when at 18, the Richmond Hill native defeated Rafael Nadal at the Rogers Cup and eventually went on to the semifinals before his run came to an end. However, that will not be the case this year after he went down in the first set as a result of a double fault. While he recovered and won the first set, it went downhill from there with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 result in Dominic Thiem’s favour.

Shapovalov did have moments of success in the second set breaking Thiem and going ahead 5-2, but he failed to repeat that in the third set and while the crowds cheered him on, he continued to make errors that Thiem capitalised on. Denis Shapovalov has been on a losing streak that lasted five matches until he managed to defeat Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Monday. His exit today is similar to his performance at last year’s Rogers Cup when he went out in the round of 16.

At 25, Dominic Thiem is ranked 4th in the world just behind Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. His attendance in Montreal comes on the heels of a winning the Generali Open in Austria. He was won three tournaments to date this year, two of which were on clay. While he hasn’t played a hard court surface since March, his last meeting in Mexico last year with Shapovalov also ended in his favour. In other tournament news, Rafael Nadal continues to push forward with his defeat of the U.K’s Daniel Evans. This was his first match in the tournament as all eight of the top seeded players were given first round byes.

From Kitzbühel to Montreal ➡️

🇦🇹 @ThiemDomi continues his winning run to reach the third round in Canada. 🏃 #CoupeRogers

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) August 7, 2019

While that match was delayed due to rain, it didn’t take Nadal long to make quick work with the win coming in two sets. Commenting on the day, Nadal said,

“All the matches are difficult here. It was a tough first set. Then in the second, I was able to take advantage at the beginning, but then he broke me back.”

Japan’s Kei Nishikori was upset by France’s Richard Gasquet in their three set match, while John Isner fell to Cristian Garin in two sets.  Also seeing their time in Montreal coming to an end was Kyle Edmund, who was defeated by Daniil Medvedev, while Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut advanced with a win over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina as did Marin Cilic with a win over John Millman. Milos Raonic and hometown hero Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced after Raonic due to an injury. The Canadian tennis superstar has been plagued with injuries over the last few years, and while he appeared healthy in the first found, it seems he has yet to recover in full from those.

The Rogers Cup continues on Thursday with Dominic Thiem taking on Marin Cilic in the round of 16, while Auger-Aliassime will meet Karin Khachanov. Punters hoping to place bets on the upcoming matches will find multiple tennis friendly sportsbooks offering generous odds. Take advantageous of their signup bonuses before the quarterfinals get underway next week.