Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario, is in the second round of the Swiss Indoors 2024 in Basel, Switzerland. On Tuesday, Shapovalov defeated Juncheng Shang of China 6-1, 6-4. Based on the ATP world rankings, Shapovalov’s win over Shang would have been a surprise, as Shapovalov is ranked 95th in the world and Shang is ranked 47th.
One of the main reasons Shapovalov took the win was on serve. Shapovalov had 11 aces compared to four for Shang. Shapovalov also broke Shang three times on six occasions and won 89% of points on his first serve.
Shapovalov, a 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist who qualified for the 2024 Swiss Open via a wildcard, will now face either Casper Ruud of Norway or Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain in the second round. Ruud, the second seed, is a three-time Grand Slam finalist. He reached the finals of the 2022 and 2023 French Open and the 2022 United States Open. Bautista-Agut reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2019.
Shapovalov is 2-0 against Bautista-Agut and 0-2 against Ruud all-time. Shapovalov’s victories came against Bautista-Agut in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2021 (6-1, 6-3, 7-5) and in the first round of Washington in 2024 (6-1, 6-4).
The other Canadian in this week’s singles draw is eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec. Auger-Aliassime, who reached the semifinals of the 2021 United States Open, has won the last two Swiss Indoors. On Wednesday he will face Sebastien Baez from Argentina in the first round. Auger-Aliassime beat Baez 6-3, 6-3 in their only other meeting last September in the Davis Cup final in Manchester.
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