Roberto Bautista will no longer be able to defend the semifinals he reached two years ago at Wimbledon. The Spanish took a fairly severe correction in the round of 16 by an intractable Denis Shapovalov, who beat him in three sets (6-1, 6-3 and 7-5) and 2:07. The 22-year-old Canadian 12th in the world came from making Andy Murray’s life bitter in the third round and did the same with a Bautista who had options to have changed the course of the game, but forgave them and was severely punished for it. Shapovalov will face Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals, a round he reaches for the first time in the British tournament and for the second in Grand Slams (last year he did it at the US Open). The Russian defeated American debutant Sebastián Korda in a highly contested match (3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7 and 10-8 in 3:49).
The start of the game was not good for Roberto, because in addition to losing his entry service later he did not take advantage of the three options he had to equalize the rest. Shapovalov escaped hopelessly and, in addition, made sure to start the second set on serve. Bautista was able to get ahead in two games and again failed in the attempt. Again he was penalized by a rival who was not for the task of giving gifts and already put a lot of land in between. “He’s beating me up,” the Castellón team told his team.
The third round was the most competitive, with alternatives, many breaks and good play on both sides. The Canadian looked so abundant that instead of letting out a ball that was clearly going out, the volley and Bautista arrived to respond with the best point of the game. At least that little consolation remained.
Results and men’s box calendar.