RAFAEL NADAL GOES DOWN TO DENIS SHAPOVALOV IN MONTREAL, ROGER FEDERER BEATS DAVID FERRER

Written by: Staff on 10th August 2017

RAFAEL NADAL GOES DOWN TO DENIS SHAPOVALOV IN MONTREAL, ROGER FEDERER BEATS DAVID FERRER

epa06136698 Denis Shapovalov of Canada reacts against Rafael Nadal of Spain during the third round of the Rogers Cup ATP men's tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada, 10 August 2017. EPA/ANDRE PICHETTE |

Nadal goes down to Shapovalov in Montreal, Federer scrapes past Ferrer

By Ricky Dimon

There will be no new world No. 1 at the end of the Rogers Cup. Rafael Nadal, who would have regained the top ranking if he had reached the semifinals, lost to Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) during third-round action on Thursday night. In front of a home Canadian crowd, Shapovalov pulled off the biggest win of his career after two hours and 45 minutes.

After the 18-year-old broke Nadal’s serve to end the second set, a wild third ensued. Shapovalov saved six break points to stay on level terms early before a stretch of routine holds led to a tiebreaker. Nadal led 3-0 but won only a single point the rest of the way and watched Shapovalov blast a forehand winner at 6-4 to wrap it up in style.

Shapovalov admitted afterward that he woke up in the morning in Felix Auger Aliassime’s basement and the first thing he saw was a poster of Rafael Nadal on the wall. He told his friend to take it down. A little more than 12 hours later, Shapovalov took down the real Nadal.

The second-ranked Spaniard called it his worst loss of the year.

Rafael Nadal of Spain in action against Denis Shapovalov of Canada during the third round of the Rogers Cup ATP men’s tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada, 10 August 2017. EPA/ANDRE PICHETTE

If Nadal hasn’t done much losing this year, Roger Federer has done next to none. In fact, the 36-year-old Swiss has fallen only twice. Federer actually lost a set on Thursday, but he refused to go down to David Ferrer and instead prevailed 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 56 minutes.

“For me it was more of a struggle,” Montreal’s No. 2 seed commented. “As you know, you don’t always feel the same and each opponent is a different problem. He started very well, especially on the return on my second serve. I was not able to serve my first serve where I wanted to, and he hurt me on the second serve.”

Roger Federer of Sweden in action against David Ferrer of Spain during the third round of the Rogers Cup ATP men?s tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada, 10 August 2017. EPA/Andre Pichette

With the win, Federer improved to 17-0 lifetime against Ferrer.

“I already beat other players 17 times,” Federer noted. “Sometimes I played them maybe 30 or 40 times. They ended up beating me at a certain stages, like (Andy) Roddick, (Fernando) Gonzalez, and (Robin) Soderling. Sometimes I beat them 10 times in a row. At the end they always ended up beating me. That’s why I have a lot of respect for this match today. I know it can’t continue that way. Seventeen is a lot.

“The last match we played were three tight sets in Toronto, then three sets Cincinnati, and again today. So these statistics are a bit ridiculous, because I have a lot of respect for David. As a person, he’s very nice. He’s a great fighter on the court. So this type of head-to-head is a bit strange.”