Photo: Erste Bank Open
Denis Shapovalov wasn’t going to let his compatriot Félix Auger-Aliassime have all the fun. The 23-year-old Canadian beat Croatia’s Borna Coric for the second time during the indoor hard court season 7-6(4), 6-0 to reach his second final of the season at the Erste Bank Open, an ATP Tour 500 event in Vienna, Austria.
After beating Coric in Tokyo a few weeks ago, Shapovalov was victorious again on Saturday thanks to an effective offensive game. He came through a tight first set that didn’t feature any break points for either player because he played an aggressive tiebreak and took advantage of his opportunities when returning.
He converted the first break point chances of the match in the opening game of the second set and never looked back, reeling off six straight games against Coric, who faded a bit both physically and mentally as the contest progressed, to cruise to victory. Shapovalov lost just two first serve points in the entire match and saved the lone break point he faced.
On Sunday, he will face Daniil Medvedev for the title in what will be the sixth career meeting between the two players. Shapovalov won the first two matches and Medvedev has come out on top in the last three. It will be Shapovalov’s sixth career ATP final and second this year after finishing as the runner-up in Seoul last month.
