MONTREAL: Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman saved four match points to shock third-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 7-5 on Tuesday in the second round of the ATP Montreal Masters.
World number 36 Schwartzman seized the initiative against the seventh-ranked Austrian, who fell at the first hurdle after enjoying a first-round bye.
On the defensive early, Thiem held on to level the match at a set apiece on his fifth set point of the second-set tiebreaker.
And the 23-year-old appeared to have gained control when he powered to a 5-2 lead in the third set.
But Schwartzman wouldn’t go away, saving two match points on his serve at 3-5, another in the next game and yet another as he served to take the set to 5-5.
Schwartzman then broke to serve for the match. He fell behind 0-40, but won the last five points of the match for his first win over a top-10 player and a berth in the third round.
Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov saved four match points en route to a three-set victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva in their first-round encounter.
The 18-year-old trailed 4-6 in the second-set tiebreaker but saved all four match points he faced to force a third set.
“I don’t remember all of them. Honestly, it’s a little bit of a blur,” said Shapovalov. “I remember one of them, he passed me. I hit a pretty tough volley. It was a pretty long point there. On one of them, I remember I was pretty far back. I went for a backhand down the line, which was pretty good. I wasn’t holding back. I just told myself, he’s got to win it from me, I’m not going to give it to him. I think I did a good job to stay tough out there.”
Shapovalov broke Brazil’s Dutra Silva in the seventh game of the third and went on to close out a 4-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-4 victory.
Home support proved no help as Eugenie Bouchard’s struggles continued Tuesday with a straight-sets loss to qualifier Donna Vekic at the WTA hardcourt tournament in Toronto.
Croatia’s Vekic powered to a 6-3, 6-4 victory, to the disappointment of a partisan crowd whose vocal support couldn’t lift Bouchard.
The Canadian, who has just one match win since a second-round exit at the French Open, committed 32 unforced errors and seven double faults.
She was broken six times by the 21-year-old Vekic, who is in the main draw of this US Open tune-up for the first time.
“I guess I am going to have to have a tournament in Croatia to finally have the home crowd,” said Vekic, who booked a second-round clash with German third seed Angelique Kerber — who held the world number one ranking earlier this year
