ROME: The Canadian Tennis player Denis Shapovalov engineered a stunning comeback to defeat an ailing Rafael Nadal 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 and reach the Italian Open quarter-finals, here on Thursday.
Shapovalov, who had Nadal on the brink of the defeat in the previous edition of the Italian Open creating two match points before losing in a third-set tie-break, has now managed to settle his scores with the Spaniard following a brilliant victory in the Round of 16 of the ongoing edition.
Nadal, who was struggling with an apparent foot injury, set the tone early in the match as he secured the first set by a scoreline of 6-1. Shapovalov, on the other hand, maintained his threat and fired back at his opponent in the remaining two sets.
The 10th time Italian Open champion Nadal showed grit but with his movement restricted, Shapovalov took full advantage to run away with the match.
Shapovalov, who rose to the 15th rank this week in the latest ATP Live Rankings can reach as high as the 11th by winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title here.
The Canadian next faces the fifth seed Casper Ruud, who reached the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000s in Monte Carlo and Madrid last season but has yet to reach that stage this year on the continent.
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