After rain forced them to wait an extra day to play their second-round match at the 2019 Italian Open in Rome, Denis Shapovalov struggled mightily against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The Canadian fell to the 15-time Grand Slam winner in straight sets (6-1, 6-3) Thursday.
Coming off of a four-set loss (6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0) to Djokovic in their last meeting at the 2019 Australian Open, Shapovalov, 20, finished the 66-minute match with 24 unforced errors. He only landed 52 percent of his first serve attempts and won just 56 percent of his first-serve points as Djokovic displayed full command of the clay court.
ROME: Novak Djokovic d Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 6-3. A frazzled match for DS who lost his serve in first set on a double fault after Air Force fly-by interruption after 1st serve. DS + Felix go to Lyon ATP 250 next week where at least of them will be in top-4 seeds. Good prep for RG pic.twitter.com/wkPzsXNIaT
— Tom Tebbutt (@tomtebbutt) May 16, 2019
Despite gaining some security within the top 25 recently, Shapovalov remains somewhat unproven on clay. He entered the Italian Open without a clay win in his professional career and secured his first against Pablo Carreno Busta in the previous round of the tournament.
#MMOpen champion Novak Djokovic kicks off his #ibi19 campaign with a 6-1 6-3 defeat of Denis Shapovalov.
— Abigail Johnson (@abigailtennis) May 16, 2019
Dominated longer rallies - Shapovalov's unforced error count mounted as a result. Won 9/11 net points. Hit 11/13 winners off forehand wing. Didn't face a break point.
Djokovic moves on to face Philipp Kohlschreiber while Shapovalov sets his sights on the Lyon Open, the last event before the French Open, which begins May 26.