http://www.rogerscup.com/tebbutt-shapovalov-shines-big-stage/

周三小德對拉奧利奇，17歲夠年青的，有希望嗎，請螞蟻鑑定一下：））

Denis Shapovalov wowed an opening night crowd at Aviva Centre with a scintillating 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3 win over Nick Kyrgios in first-round action at Rogers Cup on Monday.   

Playing for the first time at Rogers Cup and in the 11,000-seat Centre Court, the reigning Wimbledon boys singles champion displayed a poise and skill level well beyond his 17 years.

It was not the easiest of matches for Shapovalov because Kyrgios performed erratically, half-heartedly and unprofessionally throughout the encounter. At one point Sportsnet courtside reporter Arash Madani revealed that Kyrgios had said to him in an unlikely exchange, “I just don’t want to be here anymore.” A little later Madani reported that the 21-year-old Aussie said to his courtside support group, “I’m going home. I don’t know about you but I’m going home.”

Photo by: Peter Figura

Sportsnet commentator Jimmy Arias, with Kyrgios playing total hit-and-miss cavalier tennis (18 double faults mostly because his second serves were hit as hard as first serves) said, “Shapovalov should take a seat and let Kyrgios serve and see who wins the game.” That was the second game of the final set and eventually a drawn-out game went to Shapovalov – on yet another a double fault from Kyrgios to make the score 2-0.

Despite the outrageous effort by the Aussie, Shapovalov was very impressive. His combination of his wide lefty serve followed by a big forehand to the open court was worthy of a Top 100 professional player, not a guy who is now No. 370.

And as much as his backhand can sometimes seem vulnerable, he hit a few cracker cross-court winners from that side that were breathtaking.

Best of all, the 2016 Wimbledon boys singles champion kept his composure through all the antics by Kyrgios – including his rushing side to side to serve with virtually no hesitation between points and no bouncing of the ball. That composure was never more evident than in the final game of the match serving at 5-3 when he fell behind love-30. It was the perfect spot for a fold from the raw teenager playing in only his second ATP match.

But he hit a service winner, yet another of the wide serve followed by the forehand into the open court winner. That got him back to 30-all but he still had to save a break point at 30-40 and did it with a well-struck deep forehand that forced a forehand long by Kyrgios.

An ace and another forehand winner and Shapovalov had wrapped up his first ATP World Tour victory in an hour and 39 minutes and earned a spot in Wednesday’s second round against Grigor Dimitrov.

The 25-year-old Bulgarian, once a sure-fire future superstar of the sport, has tumbled to No. 40 and looked very shaky against No. 107-ranked Yuichi Sugita on Monday before pulling out a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-4 win after trailing 5-2 in the second-set tiebreak.

Photo by: Peter Figura

“It’s been great,” Shapovalov said post-match about a month of July that has seen him become the Wimbledon junior champion and now score his first win on the ATP tour – and at an elite Masters 1000 event. “I’m playing the best tennis of my life. Maybe Nick’s not playing his best tennis but it’s still a huge win.

“I’ve had so much support the past couple of weeks and I’m playing with so much confidence just because of you guys (the crowd).”

Speaking to Madani about the effective serve and forehand combination, he said, “Nick is a very good player. I knew if I wasn’t putting the second shot deep or in the corner that he would be attacking me. So it was very critical for me.”

Shapovalov’s breakthrough win was preceded in the afternoon by victories by fellow Canadians Peter Polansky and Steven Diez.

Earlier, Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., won his fourth match in 10 Rogers Cups, defeating qualifier Tim Smyczek of the U.S. 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.

“He had a few chances to go up a break in the second set, after I was up a break,” Polansky, 28 and ranked No. 260, said. “I kept fighting and I was feeling really good out there. I think he kind of ran out of gas in the third set. It was pretty hot, especially coming from his match yesterday in qualies.”

Smyczek rallied from a 5-1 final-set deficit, saving three match points, to defeat James McGee of Ireland 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 on Sunday. The sun came out full blast for the final set and that didn’t help a listless American.

Polansky has been on an impressive roll – winning two Futures events in Richmond, B.C. and Kelowna, B.C., and making the final at Saskatoon in June. He then made the quarter-finals of a Challenger event in Winnipeg earlier this month before bowing out to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan.

“I think it pumped me up because I was beating guys pretty handily,” Polansky said about his hot run. “I was playing well and winning a lot of matches 1 and 1, 2 and 2, in semis and finals. I think that did it for me more so than just winning the matches. And playing so many matches in a row, even before the Canadian events – I lost in the quarters and semis to the same guy (No. 197-ranked Darian King of Barbados) both times really long three-set matches. I carried that momentum into the Canadian events and I was just playing some solid tennis and confident that I can play how I want.”

Polansky, and Davis Cup teammate Philip Bester, are currently sporting fashionable gear from Vancouver-based Lululemon.

In the second round, Polansky will play the winner of Tuesday’s match between No. 28 Benoit Paire and qualifier Radek Stepanek.