Denis Shapovalov won the first match of the Mubadala World Tennis championship, beating American fourth seed Taylor Fritz.
He completed the victory in just under an hour, with Fritz hitting numerous errors.
The final Score was 6-3, 6-0 to the Canadian.
“Yeah, I mean, definitely felt much better that I could play today, so I’m just super happy and just happy to be here at such a great event. My first time here, thanks everyone for coming. It was really enjoyable today.” Shapovalov said in the on-court interview.
In the international tennis centre, a number of Canadians filled the crowd. “It sounds like a lot of Canadians didn’t want to stay in Canada for the winter, they all came here I guess. It’s always great to play in front of Canadians and to play in front of crowds, so it’s definitely a special feeling.”
When asked if he was looking forward to facing his next opponent, Andrey Rublev, Shapovalov joked. “No, no not at all. The ball is going to be coming really fast. I hit with him yesterday and it felt like I couldn’t see the ball so it’ll be a lot of quick points.
“We’ve played a couple of times, for sure he’s an amazing player and an amazing guy so it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Shapovalov has beaten Rublev twice in their four meetings. The last meeting was won by Rublev, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
