Denis Shapovalov incurred a point penalty–and probably should have been handed a game penalty, too–late in the second set of his first-round match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Monday afternoon, but he steadied the ship in time to advance.
Shapovalov shook of the controversy to silence the crowd and beat Italian hopeful Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 after three hours and 11 minutes.
The incident took place as the 16th-ranked Canadian served at 3-4 in set two. He double-faulted on the deuce point and then crossed over the net to the other side of the court–which isn’t allowed–to argue the mark. Shapovalov was hit with a point penalty for his second code violation of the match and that cost him the game since it was now ad-out.
During his ensuing argument, the 23-year-old had some choice words for the crowd–which should have warranted another code violation and with it a game penalty.
Sonego managed to serve out the set at 5-3, anyway, but to the chagrin of the fans he could not get it done in the third.
Shapovalov will meet Nikoloz Basilashvili in the round of 32 before a potential showdown against Rafael Nadal.
simmer down, Shapo
I picked Shapo to win that and had him in a multi with Wawrinka.
I thought Wawrinka was a bit unlucky against Bublik in MC and wasn’t far away from his previous level.
What on earth is going on with Shapo? He seems to have a meltdown in every match!
This boy I never liked!! I said a few weeks ago I just wish he would lose to Murray and he did!! I can’t wait for him to lose here!!! He is a terrible character!!
I c Theim can’t seem to be able to pass the first round! Hope he gets to true form soon.
At least Stan won his first round match here, hope he could progress further in the draw. Both Stan and Thiem are missed by many; their hard hitting baseline game plus SHBH are not seen among the younger players here .
I really can’t stand the ups and downs of Tsitsipas and Zverev, when both are top five players! What a joke, they’re both fit and healthy now but their results are so inconsistent from tournament to tournament; even a young Alcaraz is more consistent than both of them!
It might have something to do with the quality of opposition to Tsitsi, Zverev ie each other – not to mention the other obvious