Denis Shapovalov has become the first Canadian to ever reach the quarterfinals in men’s singles at the U.S. Open following a four-set victory over No. 7 seed David Goffin of Belgium on Sunday.
The 12th-seeded Shapovalov toppled Goffin: 6-7 (7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the fourth round of the Grand Slam tournament to advance.
He will face No. 20 seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the quarters. The Spaniard got into the final eight when No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic was defaulted from their fourth-round match after he accidentally hit a line judge with a tennis ball.
Shapovalov was broken only once and it came in the fourth set, while converting five break points against his opponent. He fired 13 aces and 52 winners.
Shapovalov gave up the first set on a tiebreaker before taking the next three.
He broke Goffin for the first time on his sixth opportunity, with some help, as the Belgian double faulted to give the Canadian a 3-1 lead and a chance to even things in the second set.
The 21-year-old left-hander broke Goffin a second time in the opening game of the third set, then held serve to go up 2-0 and cruised from there for a 2-1 advantage.
Shapovalov converted his third break point to make it 2-1 in the fourth set, and Goffin couldn’t hold serve with the Canadian breaking him a fourth time to go up 4-1.
Goffin hung around and finally broke Shapovalov to make it 5-3 only for the native of Richmond Hill, Ont., to convert a break point on the next game to take the match.
Shapovalov, ranked No. 17 but seeded 12th at the Grand Slam tournament that’s missing some top stars, came into the match 0-1 against 29-year-old Goffin in his career. The previous loss came last year on a hardcourt ATP 500 event in Tokyo.
Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., is one of three Canadian men to play into the Round of 16, along with Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver.
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That’s the most Canadian men to have advanced to the fourth round of the event in the same year. But no Canadian man had reached the quarterfinals in the history of the U.S. Open, going 0-12 in the round of 16 before Shapovalov on Sunday.
Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., won the women’s singles championship in New York a year ago.
Shapovalov beat No. 19 seed American Taylor Fritz in five sets Friday to reach the fourth round.
Goffin was coming off a straight-sets victory Friday over No. 26 seed Filip Kraijinovic of Serbia.
Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil both play their respective fourth-round matches Monday.
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