Denis Shapovalov's day did not begin so well with double faults on the first two points Thursday at the Miami Open, and it did not get much easier the rest of the way. However, the Canadian teen managed to grind his way to a 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 first-round win over Viktor Troicki.
Along the way, Shapovalov -- whose serve proved erratic throughout the match -- wasted five match points, including three straight in the ninth game of the third set. Shapovalov, the 46th-ranked player in the world, double faulted nine times overall.
Ironically, Shapovalov officially won the match when the 68th-ranked Troicki double-faulted on the final point of the match, as Shapovalov won the third-set tiebreak 8-6.
The second round awaits…
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 22, 2018
18-year-old @denis_shapo grinds out victory on his #MiamiOpen debut to beat Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(6) pic.twitter.com/6KLkNJ7U38
The popular left-hander, appearing in his first Miami Open, was up two breaks and 5-1 in the third set, but a case of the yips coupled with Troicki's most-relaxed, consistent play of the afternoon, pushed the set -- and match -- to a deciding tiebreak.
Despite the shaky finish Thursday, Shapovalov now faces Damir Dzumhur, the 30th ranked player on the ATP tour, in the round of 64. The win moved his match record to 9-7, so far, in 2018.
Shapovalov won a fairly routine first set, breaking Troicki in the sixth game to go up 4-2 before finishing off his Serbian opponent, 6-3.
The second set had a bit more drama to it as Troicki held serve to begin the set and then broke Shapovalov to move to 2-0. However, the 18-year-old Shapovalov immediately put the set back on serve by breaking Troicki in the very next game. On the verge of having his serve broken again in the fourth game, Shapovalov instead rallied back from 15-40 to win the next four points, hold serve, and even the set at two games apiece.
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Down 6-5 -- and needing to hold serve to force a tiebreak -- Shapovalov fell behind 0-30 before rallying again to reach the decisive tiebreak. Troicki, though, evened the match at one set apiece with a 7-4 tiebreak victory as Shapovalov drove a forehand into the net on the final point.
This was the second meeting between Shapovalov and Troicki following the Serb's three-set win last year in Shanghai.