Canada’s Denis Shapovalov advanced to the Rogers Cup semifinals with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over France’s Adrian Mannarino on Friday night.
The 18-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., was coming off a second-round win over 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro and a thrilling three-set upset of top-seeded tennis legend Rafael Nadal in the Round of 16.
Shapovalov will next meet the winner of a match later Friday between fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany and Kevin Anderson of South Africa.
Denis Shapovalov stretches to make a return during his win over Adrian Mannarino at the Rogers Cup on Friday. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)
The 29-year-old Mannarino had knocked out Canada’s top player, Milos Raonic, in the second round, although the big-server from Thornhill, Ont., played with a swollen wrist.
Shapovalov started out looking low on energy despite the encouragement of the packed centre court crowd.
He double-faulted on break point in the opening game en route to a quick first-set loss.
Canadian @Denis_Shapo, 18, is youngest player in #ATPMasters1000 SF ever and #CoupeRogers SF in Open Era, beating @AdrianMannarino in 3 sets
Earlier Friday, second-seeded Roger Federer continued his mastery over 12th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain with a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
In Saturday’s semifinals, the 36-year-old Swiss will face unseeded Dutchman Robin Haase, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.
Federer has won all seven career matches and taken all 16 sets against the 29-year-old Bautista Agut.
He is 1-0 against Haase — a straight-sets win in Davis Cup play in 2012.
Federer said he knows Haase well from serving with him on the ATP player council and from practising together.
“I’m looking forward to a tough match because he can serve very well and he mixes up his tactics a lot,” said Federer. “Sometimes he tends to just roll the ball in and use the big serve, or he uses a slice a lot and comes in.
Match Wrap: Roger Federer makes it look easy on his way to semis1:04
“So I don’t quite know with Robin what I’m going to get. But, as I have practised with him quite a bit, maybe I am better prepared than if I would have never hit with him before.”
Federer broke serve for a 5-4 lead in the first set and broke again for 2-1 in the second en route to a one hour eight minute win over Bautista Agut.
Haase reached his first career Masters Series semifinal. The 30-year-old Haase, ranked 52nd in the world, improved to 5-0 against 36th-ranked Schwartzman in his career.
WOMEN: Wozniacki upsets Pliskova in rain-delayed quarter-final
Caroline Wozniacki made some changes this week to try to change her fortune in a city that has not been kind on the tennis front.
Personal driver? Not needed this time around. Same hotel as before? Switch that booking.
Wozniacki is not only winning in Toronto for the first time in her career, she’s doing it against the world’s best.
The 27-year-old from Denmark outlasted top-ranked Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4 in a rain-delayed marathon quarter-final on Friday at the Rogers Cup.
The match ended just over five hours after the players took to the court in the early afternoon for the pre-game warmup. The start was delayed for more than two hours and three more weather interruptions followed in the first set alone.
Wozniacki beats World #1 Pliskova at Rogers Cup1:01
Actual on-court match time was two hours 56 minutes but it felt much longer.
“I just kept fighting and just kept doing my thing,” Wozniacki said.
In the deciding set, Wozniacki broke at love to pull even at 4-4. She then held serve and followed with another break to lock up a spot in the final four.
Next up will be a Saturday showdown with American Sloane Stephens, who topped Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 before the rain returned in the evening.
In the bottom half of the draw, fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine was scheduled to take on fourth-seeded Spaniard Garbine Muguruza. Defending champ and second seed Simona Halep of Romania was to play Caroline Garcia of France in the other quarter-final.
Pliskova, a towering six-foot-one 25-year-old from the Czech Republic, was playing her first tournament as world No. 1.
“She just put everything back,” Pliskova said. “Even my serves, even some of the ground strokes. So it was tough for me to close it and I think it’s tough to play someone like (that).”
The lone Canadian left in the doubles draw was scheduled to play later Friday. Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko were to take on the third-seeded duo of Safarova and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.
In early doubles play, top-seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina beat Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and American Nicole Melichar 6-4, 6-4. Second-seeded Yung-Jan Chan of Taiwan and Switzerland’s Martina Hingis dropped a 6-4, 6-4 decision to eighth-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic.
Play continues at the US$ 2.74-million tournament through Sunday.
