Denis Shapovalov vs. Rafael Nadal: Canadian advances to first-ever Masters 1000 final after Nadal withdraws

Jackie Spiegel

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Denis Shapovalov vs. Rafael Nadal: Canadian advances to first-ever Masters 1000 final after Nadal withdraws image

Hold on Bianca, there's another rising star on the tennis circuit for Canada. Denis Shapovalov is playing some of the best tennis of his young career while toppling like dominoes some of the top-ranked players on the men's tour.

After defeating No. 6 Alexander Zverev in the Round of 16 of the ATP Paris Masters, he knocked off Gael Monfils in the quarterfinals. Those two big wins come after he advanced to the semifinals in the Winston-Salem and Chengdu Opens and won his first title at the Stockholm Open in October. 

The Richmond Hill, Ont., native was set to play in the Paris Masters semifinals against No. 2 Rafael Nadal, one of the sport's "Big Three" along with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer; however, Nadal withdrew just moments before the match was scheduled to start due to injury. He reportedly suffered an abdominal injury while warming up earlier in the day.

Saturday's match would have been the third meeting between the two. The Spaniard won the last meeting at the Italian Open in Rome, 6-4, 6-1 in 2018; however, that match was on clay and a win by the "King of Clay" was not unexpected. Shapovalov does have one win against Nadal under his belt — the 2017 Rogers Cup. That match, on the then-18-year-old's home turf, saw a stunning victory, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), on hard courts, which is the same surface in Paris.

"He doesn't need any advice," Nadal said after their battle in Rome. "That's the real thing. He's good in all aspects. The only thing that he needs is a little bit more time. Maybe not that much. He's good. He's very good."

Over the course of the last few weeks of the 2019 season, Shapovalov has looked like a more confident, composed player — maybe the time is now for the 20-year-old to take that next step that the tennis world has been waiting for.

Shapovalov will now partake in his first-ever ATP Masters 1000 final, but he'll face another member of the "Big Three" in Djokovic. The No. 1 player in the world defeated Grigor Dimitrov in the earlier semifinal, 7-6(5), 6-4. It will be their fourth official meeting with Djokovic holding a commanding 3-0 lead. His three wins include a straight-set victory at the China Open last month, a win in Rome in 2019 and a four-setter at the Australian Open in January. Shapovalov does have one win against the Serbian; he defeated him at a Wimbledon warm-up exhibition event, called The Boodles, in June.

Denis Shapovalov def. Rafael Nadal (retires)

(All times Eastern)

11:38 a.m. — Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the match due to injury.

Pregame

11:30 a.m. — The matchup.

8:29 a.m. — Nadal getting ready.

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Jackie Spiegel