Miami Open 2019: Shapovalov beats Evans, Monfils withdraws due to injury
Denis Shapovalov, the young gun from Canada, has already proven himself with his power and variety of shots. But he has been struggling to make it count when it matters, and he took a strong step forward in his pursuit to overcome that as he successfully crossed a hurdle in the name of Dan Evans.
Shapovalov was anxious in the first set, trying to be impatient at times by trying to cut short the length of points and losing most of them. Evans capitalized on this and won the first set 6-4.
But Evans knew that he would need to be at his best to continue dominating, and Shapovalov was unlikely to make as many errors as he was in the first set. Right on cue, the Canadian showed better temperament in the second set as he won 10 out of 11 points coming to the net, and eventually won it 6-1.
Evans showed tenacity in the third set but Shapovalov continued his top form - both from baseline and from the net. This left the Brit with no option but to surrender to Shapovalov's brilliance.
Shapovalov will now await the winner of the match between Andrey Rublev and Marin Cilic, which is due later today.
Meanwihile Gael Monfils, who has been in top form in 2019, got injured in Indian wells and had to retire from his quarter-final match against Milos Raonic. He has now announced his withdrawal from the Miami Open too, due to an Achilles' injury.
Hubert Hurkacz, who gave a shock to Dominic Thiem in the first round, will face another Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round. Both these young players have shown promise in their earlier matches, and it is evident that they can achieve big things in the near future.
Karen Khachanov's miserable run of form has continued as he has been knocked out 6-2, 6-3 by Australia's Jordan Thompson.
Matches to watch out for this weekend:
1) Andy Rublev vs Marin Cilic
2) Roger Federer vs Radu Albot
3) Grigor Dimitrov vs Feliciano Lopez
4) Hubert Hurkacz vs Felix Auger-Aliassime
5) David Ferrer vs Alexander Zverev
6) Roberto Bautista Agut vs Fabio Fognini