Shapovalov Moves Past Tiafoe To Reach First Grass-Court SF
Second seed Denis Shapovalov moved past Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, to reach the semi-finals at the cinch Championships in a match that ran over two days in London.
On Friday evening, the Canadian hit four aces and won 82 per cent (14/17) of his first-service points to move a set ahead before bad light stopped play. Shapovalov, who is No. 14 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, returned on Saturday to close out the match and move to 18-12 on the season.
Shapovalov, who reached the Gonet Geneva Open final (l. to Ruud) in May, had not won multiple matches at a grass-court event before this week, but has now won three matches at the Queen’s Club and will face Brit Cameron Norrie in the semi-finals.
[WATCH LIVE 1]In the opening set on Friday, Shapovalov made the breakthrough in the sixth game to move 4-2 ahead before closing out on serve. He then continued where he left off on Saturday, as he played aggressive tennis on his groundstrokes to dictate from the baseline, gaining one break in the second set to advance in 91 minutes.
Tiafoe, who also reached the quarter-finals in 2018 at Queen’s (l. to Chardy), is now 12-11 on the season. The American won the Viking Open in Nottingham on the ATP Challenger Tour last week.