Canada’s Denis Shapovalov books quarterfinal spot in Rotterdam

Feb 13, 2019 | 11:45 AM

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is off to the quarterfinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament after a 6-4, 6-3 win over Czech veteran Tomas Berdych on Wednesday.

The 10th-seeded Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., finished Berdych off by breaking his opponent on his final two service games.

World No. 25 Shapovalov had seven aces, while the 59th-ranked Berdych had just two.

Shapovalov, 19, also won 75 per cent of his points on serve, compared to 58 per cent for the 33-year-old Berdych, who has 13 career ATP Tour titles on his resume.

Berdych fell just short of a Wimbledon championship when he was runner-up in 2010.

Shapovalov, still looking for his first career championship, will face Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals after the Swiss veteran prevented an all-Canadian duel by beating Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday.

Wawrinka won 90 per cent of his first serve points and saved the only break point he faced.

Raonic had 15 aces to Wawrinka’s eight and was broken just once, but that was enough of an opening for Wawrinka.

Wawrinka also didn’t commit a double-fault while Raonic had three. Raonic also struggled on second serve, winning just 35 per cent of available points.

Raonic, the world No. 14 from Thornhill, Ont., was seeded fourth at the ATP 500 tournament. Wawrinka is unseeded in Rotterdam but is a former world No. 3 and a three-time Grand Slam winner.

Wawrinka leads the career head-to-head series 5-3. Raonic had won the last three meetings, including a victory in the second round of this year’s Australian Open.

The Canadian Press