Carreno Busta Too Consistent For Shapovalov In Vienna
Carreno Busta Too Consistent For Shapovalov In Vienna
Spaniards ends Shapovalov’s four-match winning streak
Pablo Carreno Busta extended his late-season run of form on Wednesday by beating Denis Shapovalov for the second time in four weeks at the Erste Bank Open.
The Spaniard broke the four-match winning streak of last week’s Intrum Stockholm Open titlist with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over 72 minutes. Carreno Busta has now won 14 of his past 18 matches since reaching the US Open third round (l. to Goffin).
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The former World No. 10 won the first three games of their fourth FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting, breaking in the second game when Shapovalov made a backhand error. The second set looked destined for a tie-break, but a wayward forehand from 20-year-old Shapovalov at 5-5, 30/40 gave Carreno Busta an opportunity to serve for his 29th match win of the season. Carreno Busta committed 11 unforced errors to Shapovalov’s 34.
Carreno Busta beat Shapovalov en route to lifting his fourth ATP Tour trophy at the Chengdu Open on 29 September and last week advanced to the Stockholm semi-finals (l. to Krajinovic). Shapovalov, who has already qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals in November, drops to a 31-25 match record in 2019.
Carreno Busta will next play eighth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric or Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in the Vienna second round on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Shapovalov’s compatriot, sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was due to play last week’s VTB Kremlin Cup champion Andrey Rublev, withdrew due to a left ankle injury. The Canadian is replaced in the main draw by Kazakhstani lucky loser Alexander Bublik.