Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario delivered a first round upset at the 2022 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio. On Monday evening, he defeated the 16th seed, and three-time grand slam semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 7-6, 6-3.
A major reason for Shapovalov’s victory came down to the serve. He had 10 aces, while Dimitrov only had two aces.
Dimitrov who has been ranked as high as third in the world, has reached the 2014 Wimbledon semifinals, 2017 Australian Open semifinals, and 2019 United States Open semifinals. Shapovalov, who is ranked 21st in the world at this time, is a grand slam semifinalist too. He reached the final four of Wimbledon in 2021.
This was Shapovalov’s first win since the first round of Wimbledon when he beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, 6-1, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. It has been a struggling summer for Shapovalov as he has only won two of his last 10 matches overall.
The tournament in Cincinnati is the last Masters 1000 series event before the 2022 United States Open. It is also the second straight Masters 1000 series event in a row. Last week in Canada, the National Bank Open took place with the men in Montreal and the women in Toronto. In the men’s final, Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain defeated the eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. In the women’s final, Simona Halep of Romania, the 15th seed, defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
