It wasn’t easy again, but Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday in Melbourne by defeating South Korea’s Sun-Woo Kwon in five sets 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5, 6- 2.
From the first round, Shapovalov held the task. He left a lead twice. After failing to serve, he made a nasty double fault in the tiebreak, but still found a way to have the last word.
The opposite happened in the second round. This time it was Kwon who let the lead slip away before he got the last word in the second half.
But after a battle that lasted 4 hours and 29 minutes, the 14th in the world managed to overtake his South Korean rival, 53rd in the world.
The Canadian had already won the first meeting between the two men at the US Open in 2020. Shapovalov had won in four sets in the second round, en route to the quarter-finals.
Shabo will now face American Ryan Opelka (29) in the next round. The two men did not face each other. Opelka dropped German Dominic Kupfer (53rd place) in three sets of 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
