Tag:

Denis Shapovalov

Other Sports

Australia fell short on their return to the Davis Cup Final by first-time Champions Canada but proud of fighting spirit & hard work does after a great 2022 of Tennis

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t Australia’s day today when they returned to the Davis Cup Final scene for the first time in 19 years that went way back to 2003 – where Australia last won their title for the 28th time on home soil v Spain. They came here with fighting spirit orchestrated by Lleyton Hewitt as Team Captain, having never gave up along the way after their wins beforehand v Netherlands (QF) & Croatia (Semis). 

However, we have to credit Canada with the breakthrough moment they deserve – especially when they have a bright & an elite young line-up. But we all have to move on as Australia has to keep building on the good work they’ve got right now, so they can come back again hopefully next year & go one better this time.

We’ll start with the first singles tie between Thanasi Kokkinakis v Denis Shapovalov where neither of them have yet to register a win so far in this year’s Davis Cup Finals, but one of them will do so in the end. It turns out to be Shapovalov who was too good for Kokkinakis in straight sets – 6-2, 6-4. For Kokkinakis, his first set spell was a lot to be desired. Although he did show some fight after break in a bid to stay in contention, but it still wasn’t enough to hold off towards a 3rd set decider.

Then we turn our attention to Alex De Minaur v Felix-Auger Alliasime in the next singles match – as the moment of truth has arrived if Australia will bring out a doubles rubber & go one better to retrieve the Davis Cup trophy – or will be Canada as first time winners 2-0? Let’s find out as this time it was a very competitive opening half spell in the 1st set by both players before Auger-Aliassime pulled off the other half easily, while De Minaur did the best he can to keep Australia in the race and lead into a 3rd set lifeline after the break. 

In the end though, Auger-Aliassime escaped a late threat from De Minaur that not only sealed another singles win in straight sets but also gifted Canada the Davis Cup trophy for the first time. The final score was 6-3, 6-4 – with no doubles match required following Canada’s 2-0 whitewash in the series final v Australia.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Tennis News, Recap of the first two thrilling Quarter-Final ties between Shapovalov v Nadal, Monfils v Berrettini from yesterday at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Two brilliant Quarter-Final match-ups last night at the same Rod Laver Arena venue in Melbourne, these players such as Denis Shapovalov & Gael Monfils showed plenty of fight on the Tennis court but one of them had to end out on top as Rafael Nadal & Matteo Berrettini defeated their respective opponents, as they will face each other in the 1st semi-final on Friday Afternoon.

Unlucky from Shapovalov, who fought very hard, after he went from the first two sets down to a 2-2 lead that led to the 5th set decider. It goes to show he is no stranger of playing through long spells and did hit back Rafa on occasions, he just couldn’t hold it off a little longer during that climax towards the finish line and had to smash his racket in the end.

The same went with 35 year old from France Gael Monfils where he too was always on the same page as Berrettini, now Monfils began to make up lost time from the close first two set defeats & almost pulled a late comeback. However, he was blown away quickly by Berretini when it comes to a final lap sprint which confirmed his elimination from the Final 8 of this main draw.

Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal off to a flying start with an early lead following the first two sets, although he was tested on occasions later on but he had the better experience when it comes to his finishing & that came back to haunt Shapovalov’s renewed 2nd half momentum. And Berrettini just never gave up, who didn’t have the easiest of battles along the way, against an experienced Grand Slam semi-finalist like Monfils. He eventually found light at the end of the tunnel during the 5th set decider having held his early two sets lead intact as his advantage & pulled off too good in the end.

Look out for Jannik Sinner v Stefanos Tsitsipas plus Felix Auger-Aliassime v Daniil Medvedev in the other two Quarter-Final ties later today.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Tennis News, Denis Shapovalov just eliminated 3rd Seed Alexander Zverev in straight sets as he will meet Rafael Nadal in the Quarter-Final match-up on Tuesday

by Sports Benches

We’ve just seen one fantastic Round 4 match from the Rafa Nadal v Adrian Mannarino tie to another, as Denis Shapovalov has just eliminated the 3rd seed from Germany Alexander Zverev at Margaret Court Arena. It’s an easier run this time having overcome a couple of long grueling spells in the opening three rounds beforehand, and the Canadian managed to wrap this up in straight sets (3-6, 6-7 via 5-7 tiebreaker & 3-6) where he will now face Rafa Nadal on Tuesday in which will be an interesting take here.

Zverev’s 2022 campaign in Melbourne has came to an end after Round 4, he did his best to stay in the game during the 2nd set via tiebreaker from the opening set down but unable to unpack most of the fire and executions for the majority where Shapovalov noticed his weaknesses, built a decent lead as this tie goes on & couldn’t hold him off following the 2nd set.

And Shapovalov once again unbeaten so far after the first week of the 2022 Australian Open, he credits his ability to play during these long spells which played a part of his upset against the 3rd seed today. Seeing the 14th seed Canadian build such an early lead + escape a 2nd set tiebreak before getting the job done in straight sets is incredible, these types of skillsets will throw Nadal on the pressure cooker & see if this will shock his next opponent towards the semis in two days.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Tennis News, No problems playing on long periods so far from Denis Shapovalov as he just took down Reilly Opelka in the R3 tie at Margaret Court Arena

by Sports Benches

Denis Shapovalov crossed the finish line 1st ahead of American Reilly Opelka in Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Open at Margaret Court Arena, he fired off well through a close 1st set battle through the tiebreaker before the Canadian was tied 1-1 after the break.

However, Shapovalov later re-grouped himself during the 2nd half run with an improved momentum that was enough to show himself the win in three sets out of four, his opponent for Round 4 on will either be 3rd seed from Germany Alexander Zverev or Qualifier Radu Albot.

Final Score: 6-7 via 4-7 tiebreaker, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6

Looks like he didn’t have any trouble playing for long periods so far from Shapovalov having gone past Serbia’s Laslo Dere in Round 1 & Kwon Soon-Woo during Round 2, Shapovalov is always on top of his game even though he narrowly lost the 2nd set spell as this is all about the overall result where the Canadian managed to get the job done with little to no fuss.

And Opelka never gave up when he fought a series of close battles against Shapovalov after the American tied 1-1 going into the 3rd set, however, the lack of executions/conversions when trying to bridge from his 1st half run saw Opelka being left further behind before Shapovalov confirmed his elimination as soon as this Round 3 tie was done just over the three-hour mark.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Tennis News, Denis Shapovalov overcame a four-hour battle against Korean Kwon Soon-Woo as the Canadian advances to Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Open

by Sports Benches

Wow! It’s been so long for this 2nd round match-up to settle, but it’s Denis Shapovalov, who rescued himself from the 2nd & 3rd set loss against Korean Kwon Soon-woo, and worked his way back to the top spot where he held on until the end with the win at Margaret Court Arena. He will now advance to Round 3 of 2022 Australian Open and face American Reilly Opelka on Friday.

Final Score: 6-7 via 6-8 tiebreaker, 7-6 via 7-3 tiebreaker, 7-6 via 8-6 tiebreaker, 5-7 & 2-6.

Shapovalov off to a great 1st set even though it wasn’t easy to come up against a decent opponent like Soon-woo, now he kinda felt gutted at times when the Canadian was narrowly fallen short twice which almost put him at risk of elimination. However, he made up lost time that led to a 5th and final set decider before Shapovalov had an easy run towards the homestretch and won after a grueling over four-hour task on the tennis court.

And Soon-woo also fought hard for the majority with Shapovalov having gone from the opening set down to a 2nd & 3rd set win which puts him one set away towards pulling an upset, but the Korean just couldn’t find the finishing touches with the inconsistency when a poor start plus not making his opponent harder to catch up by closing the gap between a lead and victory ultimately saw him being crashed out that quick during the final set decider.

He’ll be sure to learn that experience Soon-woo battled throughout the four-hour tie with Shapovalov and bounce back stronger next time, his best result was the Round 3 last year in the French Open so maybe that could inspire him to break even better records through Round 4 & even the Final 8.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

Team Europe extends their lead going into the afternoon session of Day 2 with two wins from Stefanos Tsitsipas & Alexander Zverev

by Sports Benches

Team World may have earned a late win at the end of Day 1 last night in the only doubles game but continued to struggle going into Day 2 when it comes to the singles battle, yes there may be really close thanks to John Isner who fought back from the first set down but even in the toughest of challenges he just unable to regroup in the 3rd set tiebreaker.

Meanwhile, Team Europe extend their lead at 7-1 as Alexander Zverev overcame Isner until the very end after extremely competitive rallies in between before Stefanos Tsitsipas didn’t find it difficult to nail down Nick Kyrgios in straight sets.

Scores: 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker to Zverev), 6-7 (6-8 tiebreaker to Isner) & 10-5 to Zverev

6-3 Tsitsipas, 6-4 Tsitsipas

There’s two matches to come for the rest of Day 2 with Daniil Medvedev v Denis Shapovalov followed by a lone double meeting of Andrey Rublev/Stefanos Tsitsipas v John Isner/Nick Kyrgios.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Other Sports

2021 Wimbledon Tennis News, Men’s semi-final singles matchup review

by Sports Benches

Two wild matchups to end the Friday sessions at The Championships in Wimbledon, London.

We start with Matteo Berrettini v Hubert Hurkacz in the 1st match up when it wasn’t hard for Berrettini to win the first two sets, 6-3 & 6-0.

Although, he may be denied a straight sets chance to close out at the first attempt, as Hurkacz began to fought back with the 3rd set tiebreaker at 6-7 (won 4-7).

But Berrettini recovered immediately that was enough to land himself a spot in the final despite a close battle in the 4th set, 6-4.

Then we move on between Novak Djokovic & Denis Shapovalov in the 2nd semis game, where this next winner will get to face Berrettini on Sunday.

Shapovalov never gave up in each set through close battles v Novak, despite trying to stay in contention & hold him back.

But as always the opponent he faced today is a proven grand slam champion that found it so difficult, as Novak fended Shapovalov off with a straight sets win, 7-6 (7-3 tiebreaker), 7-5 & 7-5.

Well we have two brilliant final meetings over the weekend, one is Ash Barty v Karolina Pilskova later tonight for the women’s singles crown.

And Sunday gives two chances for Italy to close out in glory, not only Matteo Berrettini is looking for his first grand slam silverware.

But he hopes his home country can also beat England in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final, which is 42 mins away distance at Wembley Stadium.

Or will Novak deny Berrettini & end up with Grand Slam title No.20 on Centre Court? We’ll wait and see.

#tennis #denisshapovalov #novakdjokovic #matteoberrettini #huberthurkacz #grandslam #wimbledon #thechampionships #centrecourt

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail