Denis Shapovalov’s career-best eight-match successful streak got here to an finish on Friday evening by the hands of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina within the semifinals of the ATP 500 occasion in Acapulco. The persistent Spaniard denied the Canadian back-to-back finals with a straight-set win.
There have been loads of probabilities for Shapovalov as he served for each units, however some inconsistency on his half alongside mixed with a tenacious efficiency by Davidovich Fokina resulted in a 7-6(3), 7-6 victory for the Spaniard, who has been a thorn within the facet of the Canadians to date in 2025.
The 2 males spent a lot of the match going for broke, but it surely was Davidovich Fokina’s whose punches landed extra ceaselessly. The Spaniard had 25 winners to Shapovalov’s 22 and dedicated fewer errors, 37 to the Canadian’s 42. The serve was additionally not at its standard stage for Shapovalov, as he solely managed two aces and put simply 54 per cent of his first serves in play.
Contemplating the ability of each males, there have been loads of alternatives for the returners within the opening set as each struggled on serve. Davidovich Fokina had the primary have a look at a break within the third recreation but it surely was Shapovalov breaking first when the Spaniard missed back-to-back forehands at hand the Canadian a 3-1 lead.
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Shapovalov had three break factors within the sixth recreation that might have given him a double break lead however Davidovich Fokina discovered an enormous shot every time. The Spaniard then took benefit of some Shapovalov errors to get again on serve within the following recreation, solely to double fault a break free to offer the Canadian a 5-3 lead.
With the set on his racquet, Shapovalov blinked. An error-filled recreation allowed the Spaniard to as soon as once more get again on serve. Davidovich Fokina obtained the primary minibreak of the tiebreak when the Canadian missed a forehand and by no means let the lead slip away, finishing his stunning comeback to say the primary set.
Within the second, it was Davidovich Fokina’s flip to seize an early lead however didn’t convert probabilities to increase it. He raced out to a 3-0 lead and had break factors to make it 4-0 and 5-1 however couldn’t convert. Then within the seventh recreation, he immediately dropped his stage, lacking a forehand at hand Shapovalov the break again.
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At 5-5, Shapovalov gained an exciting rally to arrange a break level, the place the Spaniard netted a backhand to arrange the Canadian to serve out the set. However like he had within the first set, Shapovalov couldn’t shut it out, netting a serve-and-volley try to ship the set to a tiebreak which Davidovich Fokina dominated. The Spaniard red-lined, ripping large shot after large shot to race forward 6-0 and fired a forehand winner on his second match level to complete the job.
Regardless of the loss, simply by reaching the semifinals, Shapovalov will return to the Prime 30 for the primary time since September 2023 and will likely be seeded at an enormous occasion (Masters 1000 or Grand Slam) for the primary time since Wimbledon in July 2023 subsequent week in Indian Wells.
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