“That’s why we love watching Denis Shapovalov,” states a commentator after the Canadian strikes one of his patented leaping backhands on Monday at the Rakuten Open in Tokyo. And it’s true. Time and time again Shapovalov shows us that he has one of the most electric games on the ATP Tour at the moment.

Today was no exception as Shapovalov took out South Korea’s Hyeon Chung in a battle of young guns to reach the second round in Tokyo. The Canadian dropped his level at times but was still fierce enough to get past his higher-ranked opponent in three sets.

“I’m very happy,” said Shapovalov. “Hyeon’s a very tough first round. He’s super experienced and he’s super solid so I’m really happy to get through.”

The 19-year-old will face either Stan Wawrinka or Taylor Fritz in the second round.



With just 55 ranking points to defend between now and the end of the season, expect Shapovalov to make a run at the Top 20 by November. He’s currently 25th in the Race to London standings and appears to have quite a bit left in his tank. The current World No.31 reached a career-high of 23 in the rankings this summer. Pretty remarkable when one considers that he won't turn 20 for another six months. 

Air shapo 😂 https://t.co/9ci7QY18kP

— Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) October 1, 2018