Heading into his opener on Tuesday night, it had been six years since Denis Shapovalov last won a match at his home tournament.
And though the lefty from nearby Richmond Hill put forth a gutsy effort on centre court at Sobeys Stadium, Shapovalov could not earn his way back into the winner’s circle, losing a hard-fought 7-6 (4), 7-5 decision to 19-year-old American Learner Tien at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers.
The 26-year-old Shapovalov is one and done here, and after he sent his final shot wide he removed his hat and walked up to the net to shake hands before exiting the court with a small wave for the crowd.
It did look good for the crowd favourite at times in the match, including early on, but any momentum Shapovalov managed to gain was short-lived.
He earned an early break to take a 5-2 lead in the opening set, and Shapovalov pumped a fist and then fired three aces in his next service game, and yelled “come on!” But Learner got the set back on serve to force a tiebreaker, and the American was up 4-2 when the crowd broke out into cheers of “Let’s go Shapo!” (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap). The Canadian couldn’t claw his way back to win the set, though he threw himself to the court to make a couple of great returns on the final point before eventually sending the ball wide.
Shapovalov came into this tournament riding a four-game win streak — without losing a single set — following a tournament win in Los Cabos, Mexico at an ATP 250 event, his second title of the season.
Now ranked 29th, the former World No. 10 and 2010 Wimbledon semifinalist has been on a long road back as he returns from a knee injury that saw him miss half of the 2023 season, including the NBO. When he came back in January of 2024, Shapovalov’s world ranking had tumbled to 137th.
This was Shapovalov’s eighth appearance at the National Bank Open.
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His loss was part of a very disappointing day for Canadians on the hard court. In the morning in Montreal, 2019 NBO champion Bianca Andreescu withdrew due to an ankle injury she sustained in her opener. Then in the early afternoon, Leylah Fernandez, fresh off the biggest title win of her career two days earlier in Washington — and still tired — was upset in two sets in her afternoon match.
Shapovalov had a great run at his national tournament back in 2017 when he upset world No. 2 Rafael Nadal and advanced to the semifinal. His last win at the NBO came in 2019, when he beat world No. 40 Pierre-Hughes Hebert, and he’s 0-5 ever since.
Tuesday night, Shapovalov looked to work his way back in this match with an early break in the second set, but his momentum again evaporated quickly. Facing break point on his next service game, he double-faulted for the eighth time in the match.
Shapovalov wasn’t done fighting until it was over, though. He earned another break, then jumped in the air while the crowd roared, and put his hand up to his ear asking for more. The crowd responded and “Let’s go Shapo!” cheers began soon after.
But Tien broke Shapovalov back and earned himself match point. The Canadian fought off one, but on the second Shapovalov sent a backhand wide to end the match.
More to come.
