Heading into the Sofia Open in Bulgaria this week, there was a lot of talk about a possible all-Canadian final. The top two seeds were Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario, who was seeded first, and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec, who was seeded second.
Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime were given a first-round bye, but were both upset in the second round. Shapovalov was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Radu Albot of Moldova on Tuesday, and Auger-Aliassime was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Salvatore Caruso of Italy.
That means there is only one Canadian left. Vasek Popspisil of Vernon, British Columbia is among the players left in the quarterfinals. In the first round on Monday, Pospisil defeated Ilya Marchenko of the Ukraine, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6. Then in the second round on Tuesday, Pospisil upset the fourth seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 6-3, 6-4.
Pospisil’s first serve was working extremely well against Struff. There, he won a whopping 91% of the points. Pospisil was able to break Struff once in each set.
In the quarterfinals on Thursday, Pospisil will be facing the sixth seeded Australian John Millman. Pospisil beat Millman in their last match, which came approximately a year ago in Spain. In the quarterfinals of the 2019 Davis Cup from Madrid, Pospisil beat Millman 7-6, 6-4. Canada reached the final of the 2019 Davis Cup before losing to Spain.
In quarterfinal action from Sofia on Thursday, fifth seed Adrian Mannarino of France defeated Albot 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, and Italian Jannik Sinner beat the third seed Australian Alex de Minaur 6-7, 6-4, 6-1. The other quarterfinal matchup has Caruso up against three-time grand slam semifinalist Richard Gasquet of France.
