Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ontario has won his first career ATP event. On Sunday, Shapovalov defeated Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4 to win the 2019 Stockholm Open.
Shapovalov’s serve was working extremely well in Sunday’s final. Shapovalov had 16 aces, compared to only one for Krajinovic. The Canadian also won 93% of his first serve points as he won 28 points out of a possible 30 points. Shapovalov had eight break point opportunities and was able to break Krajinovic once in each set.
Shapovalov was seeded fourth to begin the tournament. After getting a first round bye, he defeated Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-4, 7-6 in the second round, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe of Germany 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and Yuichi Sugita of Japan 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals.
This was Shapovalov’s first career men’s singles final and the first time he ever faced Krajinovic. Shapovalov is now ranked 27th in the world, while Krajinovic is ranked 46th.
Shapovalov’s focus will now be on the 2019 Erste Bank Open this week in Vienna, Austria. Shapovalov’s first round opponent is Pablo Correno Busta of Spain. Correno Busta has the 2-1 advantage. Shapovalov’s lone win came in the first round of the 2019 ATP Masters 1000 Series in Rome as Shapovalov won 6-3, 7-6.
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec are also competing in Austria. Raonic plays Hyeon Chung of South Korea in the opening round and Auger-Aliassime plays Andrey Rublev of Russia.
