Denis Shapovalov was back to his winning ways as he opened his 2025 US Open account. The Canadian No. 2 defeated Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in his opening match in Flushing Meadows on Tuesday.
It was the first straight-sets win in five meetings between the two recent titlists as the Los Cabos champion now leads the head-to-head 3-2 over the Winston-Salem winner.
The match featured 11 breaks, which ended in favour of Shapovalov who finished with eight. The Canuck’s 28 winners were double that of Fucsovics’ tally, while the Canadian also had 35 unforced errors on the day.
Early on, Fucsovics didn’t make life easy for Shapovalov on his delivery. The Canadian had to battle through a pair of deuces and four break points over his opening four service games but was only broken once. However, the 26-year-old did manage a break of his own as the set remained level, 4-4.
At 4-5, 40-15, Shapovalov turned the game around and rallied to hold a break point. Fucsovics committed one of his 38 unforced errors of the match to hand the Richmond Hillian the opener.
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Shapovalov held to begin the second set but there wouldn’t be another hold until the fifth game as both players traded back-to-back-to-back breaks. The former world No. 10 finally held to lead 4-1.
At 5-3, the break parade returned as Shapovalov was broken in his attempt to serve out the set. However, the Canuck broke back and took a two set to love lead, an advantage that Shapovalov has never squandered in his ATP career.
To start the third, that streak was on pace to stay intact as the world No. 29 earned the early break and shot out to a 3-0 edge.
In the fourth game, 15-30, Fucsovics was forced to take a medical timeout due to a back issue. The Hungarian did continue but was broken as Shapovalov extended his commanding third-set lead.
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Fucsovics powered through the remainder of the set but, at 0-5, 15-30, a double fault by the world No. 63 gave Shapovalov a match point. The Canadian then fired his 28th winner and took the match in just over two hours.
The Richmond Hillian awaits the winner of Valentin Royer and Yunchaokete Bu in the second round.
[25] Félix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) vs Billy Harris (GBR)
Feature Photo : Peter Power
