Canada's Shapovalov falls in straight sets to Tsitsipas at Barcelona Open
The Canadian Press | Posted: April 20, 2023 1:45 PM | Last Updated: April 20, 2023
Richmond Hill, Ont., native lone Canadian competing at clay-court event
Canada's Denis Shapovalov has been bounced from the Barcelona Open.
He lost to Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2 in the clay court tournament's Round of 16 on Thursday in 77 minutes.
The 14th-seeded Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., was the only Canadian in the ATP Tour event. He had five aces to Tsitsipas' one, but Shapovalov had 12 double faults to Tsitsipas' three.
Tsitsipas was also more accurate with his serve, winning 70 per cent on his first serve and 89 per cent on his second, compared to 66 and 60 respectively for Shapovalov.
"I tried to stay as aggressive as I could from the baseline," Tsitsipas said. "Against Denis you have to keep up with the pace and be ready to attack when you can.
"It wasn't easy out here but I did a very good job."
WATCH | Shapovalov eliminated by Tsitsipas:
The second-seeded Tsitsipas is making his fifth appearance in Barcelona, making the final in 2018 and 2021. He will face Australia's Alex de Minaur in the next round.
De Minaur received a walkover from Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov in their Round of 16 match.
Sinner, Davidovich Fokina also advance
Fourth-seeded Jannik Sinner overcame a second-set letdown to defeat Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 and reach his seventh quarterfinal of the season.
The Italian broke Nishioka's serve three consecutive times to close out the third set in a match that lasted more than two hours.
Sinner moved to 26-6 for the season, having reached the semifinals in Monte Carlo. The eighth-ranked Italian will next face either Cameron Norrie or Lorenzo Musetti.
Tenth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina defeated Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 7-5.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz overcame windy conditions to advance with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
Dabrowski falls in doubles at Stuttgart Open
Meanwhile, Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and Brazilian partner Luisa Stefani are out of the Stuttgart Open.
The duo lost in the doubles quarterfinal to Alexa Guarachi of Chile and New Zealand's Erin Routliffe in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6 (4).
Dabrowski and Stefani won just 45 per cent of their points on second serve, while their opponents won second service points at an 80 per cent clip.
Guarachi and Routliffe will move on to play American Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands.
Dabrowski, of Ottawa, is currently ranked seventh in women's doubles.
The 31-year-old, who has 13 career WTA doubles titles, has yet to make it past the quarterfinals in an event so far this year.