Vasek Pospisil continued playing impressive tennis, but couldn’t solve Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday, falling 7-5, 6-3 in the Open 13 quarter-finals.
It was a tough matchup against the World No. 6, but the Canadian matched his Greek opponent shot for shot throughout the match.
The first set was extremely close, with neither playing giving an inch and both holding service games to 5-5. But Tsitsipas proved to be just too much to handle, breaking Pospisil after a string of great rallies to go up 6-5. He closed it out with four quick serves.
Pospisil(🎥@TennisTV ) pic.twitter.com/aGgK5tF6NH
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) February 21, 2020
Pospisil only gave up three break points in the second set, but lost two of them, including a match point. The two breaks were all that Tsitsipas needed to book his ticket into the semi-finals.
Despite hitting some great shots, Pospisil was unable to coerce a single break point from his opponent throughout the match.
Pospisil continues to gain confidence and vault up the ATP singles rankings. After returning to the Top 100 this week, he is projected to re-enter the Top 90 when the rankings are released next Monday.
Shapo ousted
Denis Shapovalov couldn’t contend with the big serve of Alexander Bublik in his quarter-final, falling 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to the World No. 55 on Friday.
The 20-year-old Canadian had some great opportunities in the first set, including a break point on Bublik’s first service game.
He wasn’t able to capitalize on that chance, but he had another excellent opportunity at 4-4 with Bublik serving. After winning the first three points, Shapo opened up a love-40 advantage, but just couldn’t find a way to break his Kazakh opponent.
He was unable to convert on any of his four break point opportunities in the set, but Bublik needed just one; with a 6-5 advantage and Shapovalov serving, he broke the Canadian to seal the first set.
😂(🎥@TennisTV ) pic.twitter.com/m17pXyRfzY
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) February 21, 2020
In the second set, World No. 15 Shapovalov found his legs, earning another four break points and finally capitalizing on the fourth to break Bublik at 4-3. He stayed the course after that, holding serve after four deuces to go up 5-3 and cruising through his final service game to win the set 6-4.
In the decider, it was a competition of who could get broken less, as both players struggled to hold their service games.
Shapovalov was broken in his first service game of the set, while Bublik gave a break back right after.
But it was the Kazakh who had the last laugh, breaking his Canadian opponent while up 4-3 and holding his own serve to win the match.
Shapovalov ended up with ten break points, and was only able to capitalize on two of them. It was the fifth loss in the last six matches for the Canadian, who will play his next tournament in March at the prestigious BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.
Félix Auger-Aliassime is now the last Canadian alive at the Open 13, and is set to play his quarter-final match against Egor Gerasimov on Friday afternoon.
(Feature photo: Open 13)