It was the battle for the top Canadian men's player in Cincinnati as Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov faced off in the round of 16 at the Western and Southern Open. The second meeting between the ranked tennis stars was a highly-touted matchup that ended up a straight set win for the veteran Raonic, 7-6(6), 6-4.
After multiple rain delays, both players came out hungry for victory and held serve until the second set. Nerves played a role for both players as they struggled in key moments. Leading 6-5 in the first set tiebreak Shapovalov hit three unforced errors - one wide and two into the net - to give Raonic the set.
Raonic quickly went up 3-0 in the second set, but allowed a pumped up Shapovalov back in with three double faults in the sets seventh game. The 19-year-old tied the set at four, but Roanic then used his strong serve to fire off three aces and go up 5-4 before finishing off the match.
While holding serve in the first set, it appeared the match would not continue as Raonic called for an injury time out with Shapovalov up 4-3. While the 29th-ranked Raonic had his neck worked on, Shapovalov stayed loose on the sideline.
Shapovalov & ball boy pic.twitter.com/ogRLCs0LW1
— Michael Gallo (@Galloots) August 16, 2018
Shapovalov won the only other meeting between the two at the Madrid Masters in May. Raonic will next face the winner of the Novak Djokovic-Grigor Dimitrov matchup scheduled for Thursday evening.