Denis Shapovalov is out of the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament after losing in straight sets to Lucas Pouille on Wednesday.
The Frenchman, ranked 31st in the world, set the tone by breaking Shapovalov in the first game and went on the defeat the young Canadian 6-4, 6-4 in a match that lasted one hour 19 minutes.
Pouille will face either Australia’s Nick Kyrgios or Rogers Cup semi-finalist Karen Khachanov in the third round.
Denis Shapovalov of Canada.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
Shapovalov, the world No. 34 from Richmond Hill, Ont., was coming off a first-round win over lucky loser Joao Sousa that saw him struggle in the first set before dominating the next two.
But while Shapovalov started his second-round match the same way by serving for a loss in the opening game, there would be no spirited comeback against Pouille.
While Pouille didn’t hit an ace and was accurate on just half of his first serves, he never faced break point while winning points on 80 per cent of his good first serves and 63 per cent of his second serves.
Shapovalov had 12 aces and was accurate on 61 per cent of his first serves, winning points on 74 of those. But he won points on just 48 per cent of his second serves.
Shapovalov fell to 2-7 over his last nine matches.
In other men’s play, unseeded German Jan-Lennard Struff resisted a Stefanos Tsitsipas fightback while Serbian teenager Miomir Kecmanovic beat fifth-seed Alexander Zverev in two of the bigger upsets on Wednesday.
Struff, who has yet to win an ATP singles title in his decade-long career, was on top for most of the match against the 21-year old Greek.
He served for the match in the second set but Tsitsipas managed to stay alive by taking the set on a tiebreak.
However, the German refused to give up and sealed the 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(6) victory to set up a third round meeting with ninth-seed Daniil Medvedev, who beat France’s Benoit Paire 7-6(2), 6-1.
“I had a chance to serve it out at 6-4 5-4 but he broke back and that’s the quality he has,” Struff said.
Struff’s compatriot Zverev was less consistent as he served a career-high 20 double faults in his 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4 defeat to the 19-year-old qualifier from Belgrade.
The second youngest player in the top 100, Kecmanovic’s victory was his first against an opponent ranked in the Top 10 and he is projected to advance into the Top-50 next week.
Among the other surprises on Wednesday, world No. 5 Kei Nishikori was beaten 7-6(2), 6-4 by Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka.
On the women’s side, top-seeded Ash Barty overcame a slow start to defeat Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-1, while Simona Halep battled past Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 7-5, 6-4..
French Open champion Barty double faulted to give Sharapova a 2-1 lead in the first set and it looked like an upset could be brewing in the showdown between the two former world No. 1s.
But an error-prone Sharapova bowed out after she produced six double faults and squandered six of her seven break point opportunities.
“Overall it was a pretty clean performance,” Barty said.
Wimbledon champion Halep had her back against the wall against the big-serving Alexandrova when she dropped the first set and trailed 5-4 in the second but won the next three games and elevated her play again in the decider.
The match was the first for Halep since she pulled out of her quarter-final at the Rogers Cup on Friday with an Achilles issue but she moved well in her battle with the Russian.
World No. 1 Naomi Osaka improved to 4-0 lifetime against Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2 win.
Osaka, who regained the top ranking after Barty’s early exit from the Rogers Cup last week, smacked 24 winners as she looks to sharpen her game before heading to New York later this month to defend her U.S. Open title.
Third seeded Karolina Pliskova crushed lucky loser Wang Yafan 6-1, 6-3 and Donna Vekic knocked out former champion Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 7-5 to set up a showdown with Venus Williams on Thursday.
Seventh seed Elina Svitolina, ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka and big-serving American Madison Keys all advanced to the third round behind straight set wins.