Shapovalov bows out in Wimbledon's Round of 16 as last Canadian remaining in singles draw
Canada's Denis Shapovalov plays a return during a loss to Russia's Roman Safiullin in the men's fourth round singles match on Sunday in London. (Alberto Pezzali/AP Photo via The Canadian Press)Canada's Denis Shapovalov was ousted from the men's draw at Wimbledon after suffering a fourth-round, four-set loss to Roman Safiullin of Russia on Sunday in London.Safiullin, ranked 92nd in the world, downed Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 on the No. 2 Court at the All England Club.The Canadian struggled with a knee injury and laboured through the final three sets. A limp was noticeable as he walked off the court following the loss."I felt sore the whole time. But actually, yeah, I was getting more tired in the glutes and around the knee, the quads and everything, from the beginning of the match. It was getting worse and worse. I think as soon as other parts get tired, just have more and more impact on the knee," said Shapovalov. "As the match went on, it just became unbea
Canada's Denis Shapovalov was ousted from the men's draw at Wimbledon after suffering a fourth-round, four-set loss to Roman Safiullin of Russia on Sunday in London.
Safiullin, ranked 92nd in the world, downed Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 on the No. 2 Court at the All England Club.
The Canadian struggled with a knee injury and laboured through the final three sets. A limp was noticeable as he walked off the court following the loss.
"I felt sore the whole time. But actually, yeah, I was getting more tired in the glutes and around the knee, the quads and everything, from the beginning of the match. It was getting worse and worse. I think as soon as other parts get tired, just have more and more impact on the knee," said Shapovalov. "As the match went on, it just became unbearable."
WATCH | Shapovalov falls to Safiullin:
The 24-year-old Shapovalov says the injury is years old, but it has been flaring up in recent months.
"[It's] definitely something that I need to fix fully. Maybe do the full treatment on it. Take more time off of tennis to really fix it. Because, [doctors] basically said until I get stronger it's going to kind of be like this. That's if I want to keep playing," he said.
"Obviously with surgery it would be much longer," he said.
Shapovalov was the last Canadian competing in the singles competition at Wimbledon.
The men's quarterfinals established Sunday were No. 7 Andrey Rublev against Novak Djokovic or No. 17 Hubert Hurkacz, and No. 8 Jannik Sinner against Safiullin.
Fernandez, American partner out of doubles play
Also Sunday, Leylah Fernandez, of Laval, Que., and American partner Taylor Townsend were eliminated from women's doubles play after losing their second round match 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 to Caroline Garcia of France and Luisa Stefani of Brazil.
Fernandez and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof advanced to the second round in mixed doubles with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Angel Chan of Taiwan and Fabrice Martin of France on Sunday.
Fernandez and Koolhof will next play the Great Britain duo of Jonny O'Mara and Olivia Nicholls.
Swiatek makes quarterfinals for 1st time
Top-seeded Iga Swiatek saved two match points Sunday and reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time with a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over Belinda Bencic at Centre Court.
Swiatek has won three championships at Roland Garros, and one at the U.S. Open, but she never before had been past the fourth round at the All England Club. Last year, she had a 37-match winning streak snapped during a third-round Wimbledon loss.
So comfortable on the red clay of Paris, so capable on the hard courts in New York — and at the Australian Open, where she has made it to the semifinals — Swiatek is just not quite the same player yet on the green grass used at the year's third Grand Slam tournament.
Against the big-hitting Bencic, the singles gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Swiatek certainly had her chances to take control far earlier than she did.
Six times in the first set, she held a break point but failed to cash in. Two came when she was a point away from owning the first set while ahead 5-4, but after Swiatek did not convert either, Bencic got into a tiebreaker and raced to a 6-1 lead before sealing it.
Iga for more.
World No.1 @iga_swiatek defeats Belinda Bencic 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 6-3 in a contest that lasted over three hours ⏱#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/BNQogDqP6t
—@WimbledonSwiatek headed to the locker room after that set and seemed to be back to her best immediately, finally breaking and eventually going up 3-1. But she let that advantage slip away, dropped the next three games, and suddenly needed to erase that pair of match points while behind 6-5.
Once past that key stretch, Swiatek straightened things out in that tiebreaker. From 2-all, she reeled off five consecutive points, the last of which was a double-fault by Bencic, to send the contest to a third set.
Bencic screamed after missing a forehand to hand over a break point, then double-faulted for the 10th time to gift-wrap another 3-1 lead for Swiatek in the deciding set. Swiatek protected that margin this time, and 23 minutes later — about an hour after being a point from losing — she was punching the air after delivering a cross-court forehand winner to end it.
Djokovic vs. Hurkacz: to be continued...
Novak Djokovic will need to put in some work to get to the Wimbledon quarterfinals as he seeks a fifth consecutive title and eighth overall.
Djokovic took the first two sets 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6) — after trailing in each tiebreaker — against 17th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz on Sunday night at Centre Court before their fourth-round match was suspended because it was getting too late to continue to play.
They did not start until about 8:50 p.m. because the preceding match lasted about three hours. After Djokovic claimed the second set when Hurkacz sent a forehand wide at 10:35 p.m., chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani announced to the crowd: "Ladies and gentlemen: Play suspended."
Local rules prevent Wimbledon matches from extending past 11 p.m., and so matches that approach that time often will be halted after a set ends.
They'll resume the fourth-rounder on Monday, with the winner to face No. 7 Andrey Rublev for a spot in the semifinals.
Djokovic could have been facing a much tougher night's sleep had things gone slightly differently.
Hurkacz — whose victory over Roger Federer in the 2021 Wimbledon quarterfinals was the last outing of the 20-time Grand Slam champion's career — pulled ahead 6-3 in the opening tiebreaker. That gave him a trio of set points.
But Djokovic stole the next five points on mistakes off Hurkacz's racket: a backhand into the net; a forehand return into the net; a forehand into the net; a backhand into the net; a forehand return that landed long.
Mind the net @DjokerNole
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