World No.13 Denis Shapovalov suffers a stunning upset at the opening round of the Australian Open 2020 on Monday, crashing in four tough sets to Marton Fucsovics. The Canadian was heavily favoured to win the match but slumped 3-6, 7-6(7), 1-6 to the Hungarian World No.67.
Marton Fucsovics broke twice to win the first set
Fucsovics started the match on the right foot as he broke Shapovalov in his opening service game. The games then went with serve till 5-3 when the Hungarian broke again while Shapovalov was serving to stay in the set. Fucsovics closed the opening set 6-3 in 40 minutes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Denis Shapovalov fought back in the second set
Fucsovics took his momentum to the second set as he troubled the 20-year-old in his first service game, earning a breakpoint. However, Shapovalov saved the break chance and held a crucial service game.
Both the players then failed to create break opportunities in the whole set as the set was forced to a tiebreaker. Denis Shapovalov took a commanding 3-1 lead in the breaker. However, he was put on the back foot as Fucsovics levelled back to 3-3. Shapovalov was denied two set points before he saved one and draw back the match at 1-1, winning the second set 7-6(7) in 1 hour and 3 minutes.
Fucsovics broke Denis Shapovalov thrice to win the third set
The 27-year-old was all over the next-gen in the third set as he earned breakpoints in all of his service games. After Shapovalov held his first serve, Fucsovics won 6 games in a row, breaking Shapovalov thrice to clinch the third set 6-1 in just 37 minutes.
(🎥@Eurosport_RU ) pic.twitter.com/ZMO83oPiLq
— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) January 20, 2020
Shapovalov also screamed at the umpire, who gave him a code violation for racket abuse when he didn’t break his racket.
best part of this was he changing his racket after playing one point lmao pic.twitter.com/ZeFrPokcBY
— bo3 king (@zverevss) January 20, 2020
Fucsovics sealed the match
Shapovalov fought back hard in the fourth set as he broke his opponent in the opening service game. However, Fucsovics broke back in the eighth game to level back at 4-4. The set was forced to go through the tiebreaker as both the players held their serve. Marton commanded the tiebreaker to win the tiebreaker 7-3 and win a thrilling match after 3 hours and 17 minutes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
A tough loss for Canadian No. 1 Denis Shapovalov, who is upset by Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-1, 7-6(3) in the first round of the #AO2020.
On to the next one. pic.twitter.com/uBbcSKze0V
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 20, 2020
Marton Fucsovics pulls off a big early upset, beating Denis Shapovalov 6-3 6-7 6-1 7-6.
Really solid from Fucsovics. Shapovalov was too angsty, too erratic off the ground.
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) January 20, 2020
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Earlier, World No. 25 Borna Coric was stunned by Sam Querrey in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round of the Australian Open 2020.