Read & Watch: Shapovalov Fights Through On Mixed Day For #NextGenATP Canadians

#NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov continued to back up his Rogers Cup semi-final run of a year ago (l. to Zverev) on Wednesday with a 6-3, 7-5 upset of 14^th seed Fabio Fognini of Italy. Fognini was coming off his first hard-court title at Los Cabos on Saturday (d. Del Potro).

“I think my game is at a very high level right now. You know, last week, even though I lost to Kei, it was a really good match. And I was telling everyone, I’m playing well in practice. I’m feeling really good,” Shapovalov said. “I think having my mom on the side has really helped me the last couple weeks. I’ve really picked up my game. We’ve really worked on a couple of aspects that have helped me in the last couple of weeks.”

Shapovalov will next face Dutchman Robin Haase, who beat former World No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny in a rain-interrupted encounter 7-5, 6-2. Third-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 finalist, withdrew ahead of his second-round match against Haase due to left wrist pain.

Del Potro, who underwent three left wrist surgeries in 2014 and 2015, was replaced by lucky loser Youzhny, who recently announced he will retire from professional tennis after the St. Petersburg Open in September.

Shapovalov is currently in good position to make a return trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held 6-10 November in Milan. The left-hander is in fourth place in the ATP Race To Milan. The top seven players in the Race will qualify automatically, while the eighth spot will be reserved for the winner of an all-Italian qualifier tournament to be held just prior to the prestigious 21-and-under event.

Alexander Zverev cast aside rain delays to get his title defence off on the right foot with a routine victory over American qualifier Bradley Klahn. Coming off the successful defence of his Citi Open title in Washington, D.C. the German No. 2 seed posted his sixth straight match win with an efficient 6-4, 6-4 victory over Klahn, No. 116 in the ATP Rankings.

Such was Zverev’s dominance on serve he dropped just one point on his first serve in the second set. It came when he had three match points on serve, but he quickly closed it out on his second chance to book a third-round meeting with Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev, who held off #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) in a match that finished just after midnight on Thursday morning.

“It’s not easy coming from Washington with a lot of heat, especially playing here at night, the court is a lot quicker,” Zverev said. “He played very well, very aggressive, serving I thought really well. I was just happy to break him once in each set.”

Zverev leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Medvedev 3-0, including a three-setter earlier this year in Miami. Auger-Aliassime, who turned 18 on Wednesday, was trying to become the youngest player to post two wins at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event since Rafael Nadal at 2004 Miami and the youngest to do so at the Rogers Cup since Mats Wilander in 1982.

Reflecting on his tough loss, Augur-Aliassime admitted, “It was special from beginning to end. [At the end] maybe I didn’t put as much first serve, to keep holding my serve, to keep my break alive. But I think he stayed very solid. Credit is to him. In the tie-break, I was feeling good… It slipped away out of my hands.”