Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario, and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec have each reached the second round of the 2022 Australian Open. On Sunday, Shapovalov, the 14th seed, defeated Laslo Djere of Serbia, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. Then on Monday, Auger-Aliassime, the ninth seed, defeated Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland, 6-4, 0-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
This is the second time in Shapovalov’s career he had beaten Djere. He previously beat him 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Geneva Open. That said, Djere has had prior success against Auger-Aliassime, as Djere was victorious in the final of the 2019 Brazilian Open, 6-3, 7-5. Shapovalov’s serve was working very well in the match. He had 13 aces, compared to only six for Djere.
This was the first ever meeting between Auger-Aliassime and Ruusuvuori. Auger-Aliassime won despite playing very poorly in the second and third sets. Like Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime had the serve advantage. He had eight aces, compared to only three for Ruusuvuori. Auger-Aliassime also had 15 fewer unforced errors (52), compared to 67 for Ruusuvuori.
In the second round, Shapovalov will play Soon-woo Kwon of South Korea. Shapovalov won their only prior meeting, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the 2020 United States Open. Auger-Aliassime meanwhile will next play Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, the 2021 French Open quarterfinalist.
