By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday July 5, 2020

 

Denis Shapovalov reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a straight sets win over Roberto Bautista Agut.

Photo Source: Getty

Denis Shapovalov has been dreaming about Wimbledon success ever since he claimed the junior title in 2016.

On Monday at SW19, the Canadian took a giant leap in the right direction.



Shapovalov blasted past Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, a semi-finalist in his last Wimbledon appearance, 6-1, 6-3, 7-5.

The 22-year-old smacked 52 winners, including 10 off the backhand side, to set a quarterfinal clash with Karen Khachanov of Russia.

Earlier on Monday the Russian came through a wild tilt with 21-year-old American Sebastian Korda. The No.25 survived a fifth set that featured 13 breaks of serve to defeat Korda 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 and book his first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

Impressively, Khachanov improves to 4-0 in five-setters at Wimbledon, and 6-7 in fifth sets overall.

He's definitely very aggressive,” Shapovalov said of the Russian. “He likes to dictate with the forehand. He “has a really big serve. He likes to control the play. It's actually pretty similar to me. Obviously we're two big-hitting players. I think it's going to be a lot of shot-making. It's going to be a pretty, like, aggressive game in that match.”

Shapovalov claimed victory over Khachanov in their only previous meeting, at the Davis Cup finals in 2019. The No.10 seed has been magnificent in his last two matches, dropping just 17 games in wins over two-time champion Andy Murray and Bautista Agut, combined. He has struck 155 winners in three matches, including 34 off the backhand wing.

He likes his form and is feeling confident heading into his second major quarterfinal.

“I'm very happy with my game,” he said. “Obviously Roberto is a very, very tough player to play against. To beat him straight sets at a tournament like this, it backs up my level from Andy's match. For sure I'm just happy that I feel like I'm improving every single match.

“Honestly, it's been really, really fun out there. I feel like everything's kind of working for me. Obviously it's not a guarantee that it's going to continue like this. But, for sure, I'm super, super happy with the way I've been able to play the last two matches.”