There is no such thing as an easy title in tennis, but Denis Shapovalov’s run at the Mifel Tennis Open in Los Cabos, Mexico, comes pretty close.
The Canadian scored his second trophy of 2025 late Saturday night with a straight-set victory over Aleksandar Kovacevic at the ATP 250 event. It is the first outdoor title of his career. Shapovalov did not drop a single set on his way to the title and lost a mere 18 games in the entire tournament, an average of 4.5 games per match in his four wins. He spent less than five hours on court all week.
Shapovalov may have saved his best performance for the final, the first all-one-handed-backhand final of the 2020s. He never dropped serve and only faced one break point in the match, while keeping Kovacevic under constant pressure. The Canadian had more winners (15 to 7), fewer unforced errors (22 to 23), and won 75 per cent of his own service points in a 6-4, 6-2 win.
For the American Kovacevic, it is his second loss in a final to a Canadian in 2025, having been beaten by Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Montpellier final in February.
Read also: Shapovalov Cruises Past Schoolkate Into Los Cabos Semis
When asked in his post-match press conference about his “perfect” tournament, Shapovalov said, “it means a lot. It’s always great to win the tournament. There’s not many weeks like this throughout the year. It’s my second [title] of the year, it’s the first time I’ve been able to win multiple titles in one season. I’m very happy, it means a lot and it’s a great start to the hard-court swing and hopefully I can keep going with this momentum.”
Shapovalov explained post-match that his goal for the week was to start aggressively and try to stay loose and that’s exactly what he did in the final. In the opening game of the match, the Canadian had an early break point chance and drew an error with a deep return to seize the immediate advantage.
Read also: Shapovalov dominates Walton to reach Los Cabos Final
The serve was clicking right from the start for Shapovalov and once he had that early break, he never gave Kovacevic a chance to draw back level. The closest the American came to sniffing a break point was when the Canadian served for the set in the 10th game and he led 15-30. But Shapovalov fought back and converted his second set point to wrap up the opening set.
Just like the first set, Shapovalov went after Kovacevic’s serve immediately to start the second. In the opening game, he raced ahead love-40 and even though the American fought back to deuce, the third seed was unbothered and carved out a backhand volley winner on a fourth break point to secure another early lead.
Once again, Shapovalov locked in once he had the lead. This time, he did face a break point in the sixth game but saved it, the lone break point he would face in the match. In the following game, some incredible defence from the Canadian earned him a second break to go up 5-2 and serve for the match. He clinched the title with a hold to love, sealed with an ace.
“Incredible” was the one word Shapovalov needed to describe the win post-match.
After going title-less for five years from October 2019 to November 2024, Shapovalov has now won three titles in the last nine months, having also lifted trophies in Belgrade and Dallas. The victory in Los Cabos will see him climb back into the Top 30 of the ATP rankings, ensuring that he will be seeded at his hometown National Bank Open in Toronto, where play gets underway next weekend, July 26.
Feature Photo : Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
