Shapovalov continued his career of dream, and eliminates the French Adrian Mannarino

Photo: Paul Chiasson, The canadian Press
Denis Shapovalov was ripped off the break to be decisive in the ninth game, following an error at the right shot to Adrian Mannarino on Friday night at Uniprix Stadium in Montreal.

The beautiful adventure of the Canadian Denis Shapovalov at the Rogers Cup will continue for at least a day.

After an initially lethargic, Shapovalov has delivered another inspiring battle on the centre court of the Uniprix Stadium on Friday night, he toppled the French Adrian Mannarino in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

After a struggle of 2 hrs 25 minutes, Shapovalov has won his ticket to the semi-finals, where he will face Saturday night, the winner of the clash between the German Alexander Zverev and the South-African Kevin Anderson, presented later on Friday.

He also became the youngest semi-finalist in the history of the Masters 1000.

This victory of Shapovalov came up against a rival who had spent four hours and three minutes on court without losing a single round since the start of the tournament, including during his duel of the second round against Milos Raonic. During this time, the Canadian 18-year-old had spent almost seven hours on the ground, all this during three consecutive days.

Moreover, perhaps this work explains why Shapovalov has looked like nothing in the beginning of the game is the player who had repeatedly destabilized Rafael Nadal the day before.

Input, Shapovalov has conceded the first four games, during which he has scored only six points. At a certain point, Mannarino has picked up 14 points out of 15.

The Canadian has finally broken the ice in the fifth game, to his service. But again, this was not easy as he has had to remove five balls from breakage to get there.

Without giving a single chance of breakage, Mannarino has completed the first race in 39 minutes, and continued to deliver the tennis solid in the first half of the second round, even if it was felt that Shapovalov was starting to relax and play in a more relaxed manner.

The results for the Canadian came in the sixth game, after a break of ten minutes because of the rain.

The service, the French 29-year-old found himself in deficit 15-40 and committed a double fault on the first ball of breakage.

This blunder has woken up the crowd, kinda tame so far. It was especially in the Canadian build a cushion of 4-2. He was able to protect it to force the holding of a third round thanks to a delicate forehand in parallel along the line that even Mannarino applauded.

In the third set, Shapovalov has given the advantage by breaking his rival in the third game, but it was immediately lost due to several of his own errors. Shapovalov has, however, made some jewelry, in particular, to bring the score 4-4 when he put a backhand crosscourt, a difficult position at the back of the court, as Mannarino had no other choice than to admire and even applaud once more.

Shapovalov was ripped off the break to be decisive in the ninth game, following an error on the forehand from Mannarino, and it has put an end to the duel with his first ball of the match thanks to a service that the French could not control.

Federer, complimentary

After his victory against the Spanish Roberto Bautista Agut on Friday afternoon, the second seeded of the tournament has not been able to avoid the topic of the hour at the Uniprix Stadium, which is the delivery of the Canadian Denis Shapovalov against Rafael Nadal on Thursday night. “This match was fabulous. […] When a young player of 18 years old fighting a legend such as “Rafa”, it is always good for tennis because you talk about other players, ” noted Federer. By eliminating Nadal, Shapovalov has prevented the Spanish to resume its place as no. 1 in the world.