Denis Shapovalov’s career-best eight-match winning streak came to an end on Friday night at the hands of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semifinals of the ATP 500 event in Acapulco. The persistent Spaniard denied the Canadian back-to-back finals with a straight-set win.
There were plenty of chances for Shapovalov as he served for both sets, but some inconsistency on his part along combined with a tenacious performance by Davidovich Fokina resulted in a 7-6(3), 7-6 victory for the Spaniard, who has been a thorn in the side of the Canadians so far in 2025.
The two men spent most of the match going for broke, but it was Davidovich Fokina’s whose punches landed more frequently. The Spaniard had 25 winners to Shapovalov’s 22 and committed fewer errors, 37 to the Canadian’s 42. The serve was also not at its usual level for Shapovalov, as he only managed two aces and put just 54 per cent of his first serves in play.
Considering the power of both men, there were plenty of opportunities for the returners in the opening set as both struggled on serve. Davidovich Fokina had the first look at a break in the third game but it was Shapovalov breaking first when the Spaniard missed back-to-back forehands to hand the Canadian a 3-1 lead.
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Shapovalov had three break points in the sixth game that would have given him a double break lead but Davidovich Fokina found a big shot each time. The Spaniard then took advantage of some Shapovalov errors to get back on serve in the following game, only to double fault a break away to give the Canadian a 5-3 lead.
With the set on his racquet, Shapovalov blinked. An error-filled game allowed the Spaniard to once again get back on serve. Davidovich Fokina got the first minibreak of the tiebreak when the Canadian missed a forehand and never let the lead slip away, completing his surprising comeback to claim the first set.
In the second, it was Davidovich Fokina’s turn to grab an early lead but failed to convert chances to extend it. He raced out to a 3-0 lead and had break points to make it 4-0 and 5-1 but could not convert. Then in the seventh game, he suddenly dropped his level, missing a forehand to hand Shapovalov the break back.
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At 5-5, Shapovalov won a thrilling rally to set up a break point, where the Spaniard netted a backhand to set up the Canadian to serve out the set. But like he had in the first set, Shapovalov could not close it out, netting a serve-and-volley attempt to send the set to a tiebreak which Davidovich Fokina dominated. The Spaniard red-lined, ripping big shot after big shot to race ahead 6-0 and fired a forehand winner on his second match point to finish the job.
Despite the loss, just by reaching the semifinals, Shapovalov will return to the Top 30 for the first time since September 2023 and will be seeded at a big event (Masters 1000 or Grand Slam) for the first time since Wimbledon in July 2023 next week in Indian Wells.
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