Finally Denis Shapovalov was able to find a way past Marcos Giron. The Canadian defeated the American for the first time in three meetings in three sets on Thursday night to reach the semifinals of the ATP 500 event in Acapulco, Mexico.
Having lost their previous two matchups in straight sets, Shapovalov took some time to figure out Giron as he dropped the opening set. But as the match went along, the Canadian settled in and used his variety to claim a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win.
The win is his eighth victory in a row overall dating back to his title run in Dallas, which makes it the longest winning streak of his career on the ATP Tour.
While Shapovalov’s power was a factor, as he had 27 winners, he managed to use some clever tactical tennis to induce 38 errors off of his opponent’s racquet. He also applied more pressure on return, converting five of 10 break points and winning 66 per cent of Giron’s second serve points.
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Early on, Giron had a good feel for the Shapovalov serve and his shots seemed magnetically drawn to the lines. The Canadian seemed frustrated by his opponent’s accuracy and shanked a forehand down love-40 in the fifth game to surrender the first break of the match.
As the set went along, Giron’s level began to fluctuate a bit and he handed the break back with a couple of errors in the eighth game. But Shapovalov was also struggling to find a rhythm. Right after levelling at 4-all, the Canadian sent back-to-back forehands wide to give Giron another break lead which he did not let slip away.
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Near the end of the first, Shapovalov was starting to have success by taking some juice off his shots, instead looping them deep with heavy spin that denied Giron any pace to work with. The strategy paid off early in the second as the American committed a slew of errors to give Shapovalov a quick 2-0 lead, but the Canadian followed it up with an error-filled game of his own to immediately put the set back on serve.
The back-and-forth continued as Shapovalov managed to break again in the following game to go up 3-1 but this time, he managed to hang on. The Canadian did not face another break point until he served for the set at 5-3 and, after saving a break point with an impressive second serve out wide, he claimed his first set in the rivalry with a forehand winner.
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The Canadian looked to capitalize on his momentum by applying pressure to the Giron serve early. The American saved a break point in the third game with a volley winner but the next time he stepped up to the line, a lob long gave Shapovalov another look and this time he found a tightly-angled backhand winner to seize the early break.
With the lead, Shapovalov locked in. The early inconsistency was gone and the Canadian dominated the rest of the way, never giving Giron a chance to get back in the match. He added another late break before serving out the win.
Shapovalov will now look to reach back-to-back finals for the first time in his career. He will face either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or local wildcard Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez in the semifinals on Friday.
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