By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, July 2, 2021
Denis Shapovalov slugged 44 winners shredding Andy Murray 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to streak into the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time.
Photo credit: Getty
A resilient Andy Murray celebrated his Wimbledon comeback making magic on Centre Court through two rounds.
A ruthless Denis Shapovalov conjured crackling combinations to make the two-time champion disappear today.
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The explosive Shapovalov slugged 44 winners shredding Murray 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to streak into the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time.
Exuding energy and slashing dangerous drives with ambition, Shapovalov built double break 4-1 leads in all three sets and dictated baseline exchanges for much of the match leaving Murray, who managed just 11 winners, little recourse.
Centre Court fans stood and saluted Murray with rousing ovation send-off in appreciation of his comeback after multiple hip surgeries. Murray departed a few hours after British No. 1 Dan Evans fell to American Sebastian Korda.
The 22-year-old Shapovalov stormed into a fourth-round clash vs. 2019 Wimbledon semifinalist Roberto Bautista Agut.
Earlier, the eighth-seeded Spaniard defeated Dominik Koepfer 7-5, 6-1, 7-6(4). Eight months after Shapovalov made his first major quarterfinal at the US Open, he's one win from making a maiden quarterfinal at Wimbledon.
Playing his first Wimbledon in four years, Murray may well have been depleted battling by Nikoloz Basilashvili and Oscar Otte in his opening two rounds, but even at full strength the former No. 1 would have had his hands full today. Shapovalov, one of the most explosive players in the field, took a walkover into round three and explored the entire court hitting the Briton into defensive positions from the opening point.
After suffering a couple of falls that left him scanning the bottom of his sneakers, Murray changed shoes two games into the match. Shapovalov put his foot down, scalding a series of crackling ground strokes and hammering a heavy backhand winner to break for 2-1. The Canadian cruised through a six-point run for a 3-1 lead.
Forced to defend off his back foot at times, Murray left a drop shot too high in the short court. Shapovalov sprinted up to it, lashing a backhand down the line. That strike helped him bang out a second straight break for 4-1. Shapovalov streaked through five games in a row stretching his lead t 5-1.
The wild card responded with a 10-point to close the gap to 4-5 and force the Canadian to serve out the set.
The former No. 1 ratcheted up the pressure draining errors from Shapovalov to earn three break points. Shapovalov stood tall saving all three, including a phenomenal forehand drop volley on the third. Pasting a forehand approach off the line, Shapovalov smacked a smash for set point. The Canadian capped a tense nine-minute hold with a drop shot snatching the set with a clenched fist.
That game was really Murray's last stand as his 22-year-old opponent continued to crack the first strike with menace often pinning the Briton behind the baseline.
The speedy Shapovalov was straddling the baseline to slash heavy drives and was quick off the mark when Murray tried to play dipping drop shots. Murray spit up his first double fault of the day gifting the break to start the second set. Shapovalov smacked an ace out wide backing up the break for a 2-0 second-set lead.
Spooked by Shapovalov's speed around the court, Murray twice missed open court shots, including bumping an open drop shot into net. For the second straight set, Shapovalov went up a double break at 4-1.
The left-hander served out the second set at 15 for a two-set lead after one hour, 46 minutes. Whipping winners from all areas of the court, Shapovalov more than doubled Murray's winner output—30 to 11—through two sets.
Outplayed for two sets, Murray caught a reprieve as officials closed the retractable roof over Centre Court. Playing beneath the roof, Murray rode a wave of crowd support stopping 24th-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili in his opener then rallying past qualifier Oscar Otte in a dramatic three hour, 51-minute second-round triumph.
The closed roof and pro-Murray crowd didn't slow Shapovalov's roll one bit.
The world No. 12 broke to open the third set, withstood a jarring tumble to the turf and hammered his eighth ace to help confirm the break for 2-0.
Shapovalov slammed successive aces to close a two hour, 14-minute win in style.
Though he carried an 8-11 career grass-court record onto court, Shapovalov can open the court with his lefty serve, is a superb shotmaker and covers the court quickly, all assets on the lawn where he believes there's plenty of room for growth.
"For sure with every year I've felt myself get better on this surface, and I do still think there is a lot of room to grow," Shapovalov said. "But for sure this is hands down probably the best season, for sure, I mean, results speaking, that I've had on grass to this point.
"So hopefully I can keep it going. But definitely, like I said, it's always been a surface that I felt I could be effective on."