MY ACCOUNT
Denis Shapovalov said it is a privilege to be facing Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open quarter-finals after his win over Alexander Zverev, who conceded “everything” went wrong.
Zverev had been looking sharp in Melbourne over the last week, with the world number three not dropping a single set en route to the last 16.
Yet the Olympic gold medallist was on the end of a straight-sets loss on Sunday as he went down 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 to Shapovalov.
Zverev made 32 unforced errors, five fewer than Shapovalov, and managed to convert only two of five break points, with the German winning 46/67 first-serve points.
Asked what went wrong, Zverev bluntly told reporters: “Everything.
“It’s no one else’s fault. It’s not the coach’s fault, it’s not my team’s fault, it’s no one else’s fault. It’s purely me.
“As world number three, I have to take responsibility for the things I do and don’t do.
“I give credit to Denis. It’s incredible that he’s in the quarters, I think he deserves it. He’s done a lot of work, improved his game.
“But I’ve got to look at myself. Today was just, in my opinion, awful from my side.”
Shapovalov had lost to Zverev in the ATP Cup earlier this month, but after Sunday’s win the duo’s head-to-head record stands at 4-3 in the latter’s favour.
The 22-year-old Canadian will now face Nadal, with the 20-time grand slam winner having progressed to his 14th Australian Open final by defeating Adrian Mannarino.
Nadal holds a 3-1 head-to-head record against Shapovalov, though this will be the first time the pair have met in a major.
“It’s always an honour to go up against a guy like Rafa,” said Shapovalov after reaching his first Australian Open quarter-final.
“It’s always going to be a battle against him. It’s going to be a tough one and I’m definitely going to enjoy it.”
Reflecting on just his second career win over a player in the top five, Shapovalov said: “I think off the ground I was playing really well, really feeling my shots off both wings.
“I played pretty smart, it felt like things were going my way early on. I lost a little bit of momentum midway in the second set but fought well to come back and just kind of rolled with it after.”
It was also the first time in the tournament that Shapovalov had not had to go to at least four sets.
“It’s probably the one I least expected to finish in three. I’m very happy with my performance, definitely happy with where my game is at,” he added.
