22nd-ranked Canadian Denis Shapovalov easily beat 28th-ranked Croatian Borna Coric and is through to the semi-finals of the ATP 500 in Tokyo, Japan, where he faces American Taylor Fritz, who won’t didn’t even enter the field against Nick Kyrgios. .
Seventh favorite of the group, Shapovalov took 1h18 to close the score at 6/4 6/3 after firing nine aces against the two of Coric, who won 78% of the points played with his first serve against 89% for the Canadian, who committed the five double faults of the match.
“I think I played very well today,” Shapovalov said at a press conference. “Overall, my level over the last two weeks has been excellent, so I’m really happy to be back in the semis.”
“When my serve is going well, the rest of my game I can relax and play with a lot of freedom. My team and I also work a lot on the returns, so I think that’s an area where I got a lot of improved, as well as the service. They are the two most important shots in the game”, he analyzed.
Shapovalov and Fritz have already met five times on the professional circuit and the Canadian has won four of those meetings.
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