Canada’s Shapovalov wins Dubai opener but cool on bubble life | Tennis News – Times of India


DUBAI: Canadian world No.12 Denis Shapovalov plans on competing in fewer tournaments this season if the tennis tour continues to operate under strict coronavirus bubble conditions for the players.
Shapovalov, who enjoyed a winning debut in Dubai thanks to a 6-1, 6-3 second-round success over German big-server Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday, says being confined to a hotel room at every tournament due to the Covid-19 restrictions in place can take a mental toll on the players.
“I definitely don’t want to play too much this year if it’s going to be a bubble life because it is extremely difficult mentally to be locked up like this,” the 21-year-old told reporters in Dubai.
“Of course it’s amazing to play, but as the weeks go on, you kind of lose that passion for tennis and a lot of players are struggling with that. So we’re trying to take the approach of minimising that as much as possible and just enjoying every match that I do go out and play this year.”
The third-seeded Shapovalov, who made the quarter-finals in Doha last week, fired 26 winners and just six unforced errors against Struff and next faces Polish No 13 seed Hubert Hurkacz. Struff struggled on serve early on which helped Shapovalov speed to a 5-0 lead inside 20 minutes. The young Canadian wrapped up a flawless opening set with an ace, dropping just one point behind his first serve along the way.
A break of serve in game five gave Shapovalov the advantage in the second set and he secured the win – just his second in six meetings with Struff – on the 61-minute mark. Over on Court 2, surprise Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev, who received a wildcard into the Dubai main draw this week, upset No.12 seed Dan Evans of Great Britain 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The Russian will take on Italian Lorenzo Sonego in round three.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Releated

Three Indian Badminton Players Test Positive For Coronavirus Ahead Of All England Open | Badminton News

Three Indian players and one staff member tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of All England Open.© AFP Three Indian shuttlers have tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the All England Championship while a few are awaiting confirmation on their inconclusive samples as India’s campaign has been thrown into chaos before the start of […]

Three Indian shuttlers test positive for COVID-19 ahead of All England Championship | Badminton News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Three Indian shuttlers have tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the All England Championship while a few are awaiting confirmation on their inconclusive samples as India’s campaign has been thrown into chaos before the start of the tournament, starting Wednesday. A member of the support staff has also tested positive, leaving the players […]

%d bloggers like this: