Cincinnati (USA) – After crashing in the opening rounds in Washington and Montreal, Denis Shapovalov got off to a strong start at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati. The Canadian defeated the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, 18th in the standings and champion of the tournament in 2017, by 7/6 (7-4) and 6/3 at 1h28 from the start.

As well as winning his first match since Wimbledon, Shapovalov also picked up his second victory in his last ten matches. Prior to the London Grand Slam, he had been winless since his run to the Rome Masters 1000 semi-final in May.

Much more aggressive than his opponent on Monday, Shapovalov made 28 winning strokes against only 7 for Dimitrov, and committed 29 unforced errors against 20 for the Bulgarian. The Canadian fired ten aces against just two, escaped the two break points he faced and got the only break of the match.

After a first set without breaks and defined only in the tie-break, the Canadian was superior in the second set. In a partial with fast plays and set points with few exchanges of balls, he faced no break points and only conceded seven points in his service games, the break came at the sixth game, after a double fault by his opponent. Shapovalov went from 2/2 to 5/2 and defined the dispute as confirming zero serve.

A former top-10 player, Shapovalov currently sits 21st at the age of 23 and now has 18 wins this season. After the victory in the duel between players in the one-handed backhand, the Canadian will certainly face a player at home, from the duel between Tommy Paul and Jenson Brooksby.