In a surprising turn of events, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov has been eliminated from the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament, falling to sixth seed Taylor Fritz with a score of 6-4, 6-3 in Thursday’s second-round matchup.
Impressively, Fritz managed to hold serve throughout the match without being broken.
The American seized a pivotal break in the closing game of the first set, then surged ahead in the second, breaking Shapovalov to take a 3-1 lead before serving out the match.
This clash saw the rivals’ head-to-head record even at 6-6, although Fritz has claimed victory in four of their last five encounters.
Looking ahead, Fritz is set to compete against second seed Arthur Fils from France in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 event.
The 27-year-old Shapovalov, hailing from Richmond Hill, Ont., arrived at the tournament with a world ranking of No. 52 and a season record of 22-21.
