Wimbledon Watch: Shapovalov & Andreescu advance
Canada is on Wimbledon watch as Denis Shapovalov is moving on to the fourth round of the prestigious Grand Slam tournament taking place just outside London, England.
Shapovalov emerged triumphant after a tough match against Great Britain’s Liam Broady. A home favourite, Broady was Britain’s last remaining men’s singles player in the tournament. The 24-year-old Canadian won 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 7-5, managing to avoid a fifth set against the Brit who, in his previous match, had eliminated Norway’s fourth-seeded Casper Ruud. Shapovalov managed to break Broady’s serve eight times throughout the match, which was key to his success.
Shapovalov is no stranger to this stage of Wimbledon, having reached the semifinals in 2021.
He also has quite a history of beating players at their home Grand Slams, having defeated a home-crowd favourite once at the Australian Open, once at the French open, three times at the U.S. Open and now twice at Wimbledon. When asked whether he enjoys the atmosphere of “playing against the crowd,” Shapovalov answered honestly — “No, definitely not!”
The Canadian was an excellent sport about the allegiance of the crowd, admitting in the post-match interview that the “Brooaaaddyyy” chants were actually cracking him up a bit during the match.
This is Shapovalov’s first fourth-round Grand Slam appearance since last year’s Australian Open. The Canadian will next face off with Russian-born Roman Safiullin, who is 92nd in the ATP singles rankings. The match will take place on Sunday, July 9.
Fellow Canadian Bianca Andreescu has also found success on the grass court, securing her spot in the third round, the furthest the 23-year-old has ever made it in the tournament.
Andreescu won the first set, lost the second, and was down 2-5 in the third before mounting an epic comeback, pushing the game to tiebreak. The crowd roared along with Andreescu as she celebrated the win over Ukraine’s 26th-seeded Anhelina Kalinina in her second match in as many days after weather delays earlier in the week.
