Three Canadians are in the third round of the 2022 Italian Open on Thursday. On Wednesday, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ontario defeated Nuria Parrizas-Diaz of Spain, 6-3, 7-6 in the second round. She is joined by Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, the eighth seed, and Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario, the 13th seed on the men’s side.
The victory by Andreescu was her second win in consecutive days. On Tuesday, she upset 2021 United States Open champion and the 10th seed, Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, 6-2, 2-1. Raducanu had to withdraw because of a back injury. It should be noted that Andreescu was a U.S. Open champion in the past too, as she defeated American Serena Williams in the final in 2019.
Andreescu will next play Petra Martic of Croatia in the third round on Thursday. This will new their first career meeting.
Auger-Aliassime got a second round bye before beating clay court specialist and 2021 French Open quarterfinalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. He will next play Marcos Giron of the United States. Auger-Aliassime beat Giron in their only prior meeting, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of Halle last year.
Shapovalov, the 13th seed, beat Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, 6-4, 7-6 in the second round on Tuesday. He will next play the great Rafael Nadal of Spain on Thursday. Shapovalov is 1-4 against Nadal, with his lone win coming in the third round of the 2017 Rogers Cup from Montreal, Quebec.
