Denis Shapovalov's stay in Ohio came to an early end when he fell 6-4, 6-4 to France's Lucas Pouille in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Wednesday.
Pouille showed from the first game that he would give the World No. 34 a tough match, spending nearly five minutes and taking four opportunities before breaking the Canadian's serve and grab a 1-0 lead. The Frenchman wasted little time winning the next game to go up 2-0, putting Shapovalov under pressure early in a bit of a facsimile of the start to the 20-year-old's three-set comeback victory from a day earlier.
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But while Shapovalov put up much more of a fight in Wednesday's opening frame than he did on Tuesday against Joao Sousa, the youngster couldn't find a breakthrough against the World No. 31.
Shapovalov hit 10 aces in the first set alone but ultimately couldn't recover from the match-opening break point won by his opponent. The second set saw Shapovalov hit another pair of aces — Pouille had none over the course of the entire match — and build a 67-54 overall advantage in first-serve percentage, but Pouille shrugged off the big serves en route to an impressive victory in which the 25-year-old didn't allow a single break point opportunity over the two sets.
Round three for @la_pouille 💪
— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) August 14, 2019
The 🇫🇷 defeats Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-4 at @CincyTennis. pic.twitter.com/aaSovVcvTi
Shapovalov hasn't advanced past the second round since his quarterfinal defeat to eventual champion Benoit Paire at the Lyon Open in May.