Shapovalov falls to American Fritz in 2nd round of Mexican Open
Auger-Aliassime ousted from Dubai Tennis Championships by Italy's Sonego
Canada's Denis Shapovalov was handed a 6-4, 6-4 second-round loss by American Taylor Fritz at the Mexican Open Wednesday in Acapulco, Mexico.
After taking a 2-1 lead in the opening set, Shapovalov dropped the next three games. Fritz kept the Richmond Hill, Ont., native at bay from then on, as Shapovalov only got within a game before dropping the set.
In the second, Fritz jumped out to a 5-1 edge. A Shapovalov forced error led to a deuce, from which Fritz took the advantage with a winner and proceeded to win his fifth game with another forced error from the Canadian.
Shapovalov won the next three games, however, with the third seeing Fritz go without a point but committing four consecutive forced errors.
Shapovalov had five aces, won 78 per cent of first-serve points and converted one-of-two break point chances.
Fritz, the third seed in the tournament, had seven aces and won 97 per cent first-serve points. He also went 3-for-5 on break point opportunities.
WATCH | Shapovalov eliminated by Fritz at Mexican Open:
Auger-Aliassime suffers 2nd-round loss in Dubai
Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime was eliminated in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 loss to Italy's Lorenzo Sonego on Wednesday.
Sonego hit three winners in a tiebreaker to win an even first set that saw both players hold serve throughout.
The Italian scored the only break of the game to go up 4-3 in the second set. Auger-Aliassime had game point twice but failed to hold.
Sonego had two aces and served to love in the next game to take a 5-3 lead.
It was Auger-Aliassime's earliest exit at a tournament since the 22-year-old from Montreal, who entered the tournament ranked No. 9 in the world, lost his first match at a season-opening tournament in Adelaide, Australia.
He followed that with a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open, a quarterfinal appearance in Rotterdam, Netherlands and a semifinal berth in Doha, Qatar.
Sonego will face Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals, after the German beat qualifier Christopher O'Connell 7-5, 6-4.
WATCH | Sonego takes down Auger-Aliassime in 2nd round:
Djokovic coasts into quarters
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic eased into the quarterfinals at the Dubai Championships by beating Tallon Griekspoor 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday.
Djokovic extended his winning streak to 19 matches in tidy fashion a day after being pushed to a third-set tiebreaker by 130th-ranked Tomas Machac.
"Yesterday, I really had to work hard to get a win. Tonight... I was sharp," Djokovic said.
The 35-year-old Serb broke the 39th-ranked Griekspoor four times to remain unbeaten this season. It was Djokovic's second match since winning his 10th Australian Open title.
The five-time Dubai champion had taken a few weeks off after overcoming a hamstring problem in Australia to win his record-equalling 22nd Grand Slam singles title.
Nothing to see here, just another INCREDIBLE <a href="https://twitter.com/DjokerNole?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DjokerNole</a> return🤯<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DDFTennis?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DDFTennis</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ATP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ATP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/atptour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@atptour</a> <a href="https://t.co/maThXrkpjc">pic.twitter.com/maThXrkpjc</a>
—@DDFTennisAlso Wednesday, defending champion Andrey Rublev produced a 1-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3) comeback win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The Russian saved five match points in the second-set tiebreaker. He won seven straight points after going down 1-6.
Rublev will play Botic van de Zandschulp in the quarterfinals.
The third-seeded Daniil Medvedev used an underarm serve to close out his 6-4, 6-2 victory over Alexander Bublik, who frequently uses the tactic including earlier in the match. The 27-year-old Russian will next play the 20th-ranked Borna Coric.
Canada's Marino drops 2nd-round match in Monterrey
Canada's Rebecca Marino suffered a 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-3 loss to China's Zhu Lin in second-round action at the Monterrey Open on Wednesday.
The Vancouver native had 11 aces to one double fault. In contrast, Zhu had a single ace and five double faults.
Having committed all five of her double faults between the first two sets, Zhu cleaned things up in the third to earn the victory.
WATCH | Marino falls to Zhu at Monterrey Open:
Marino converted on just four of her 15 break point opportunities and won 67.2 per cent of first-serve points. Meanwhile, Zhu went three-for-nine on break points and won 64.7 per cent of first-serve points.
With the win, Zhu took a 2-1 edge in career matchups against Marino.
Marino, alongside Georgia's Natela Dzalamidze, fell 6-7 (3), 7-5, 10-4 to Egypt's Mayar Sherif and Slovakia's Tereza Mihalikova in women's doubles opening-round action later Wednesday.
With files from The Associated Press
