Denis Shapovalov exited the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament early when he lost in the first round on Monday to Grigor Dimitrov, 3-6, 6(3)-7.
World No. 22 Dimitrov defeated No. 16 Shapovalov at the 2016 Rogers Cup, too — advancing his head-to-head record to 2-0 over the Canadian. In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Monday, Dimitrov saved each of the three break points he faced (Shapovalov only won two of his three) en route to victory in just under 90 minutes.
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Sorry but how gorgeous is this backhand by @denis_shapo???
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 10, 2020
😲#abnamrowtti pic.twitter.com/125YRBj4qh
Shapovalov has had a tough time on the court lately. In January, Marton Fuscovics upset him in the first round at the Australian Open and he similarly lost to Ugo Humbert at the Auckland Open just days before. He did provide fans with an epic two-hour and 40-minute long match against Novak Djokovic at the team-based ATP Cup that shows the 20-year-old can play with the best tennis has to offer.
Overall, Shapovalov is 3-5 in singles play and 2-1 in doubles so far in 2020.
Dimitrov could run up against another top-tier Canadian in Rotterdam's second round; he will meet the winner of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jan-Lennard Struff, who play Tuesday morning.