Twenty-four hours after No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev tumbled out of the Gonet Geneva Open at the hands of Richard Gasquet, No. 3 seed Denis Shapovalov followed suit. A runner-up here last year, the Canadian lost 6-4 6-7(2) 6-3 to Ilya Ivashka in the final match of the day.
Six days on from beating Rafael Nadal in Rome, Shapovalov had no answer to the world No. 50, who will face Portugal’s Joao Sousa (ATP 79) in the quarterfinals on Thursday. With the Canadian now out of the picture, defending champion Casper Ruud (photo) is favourite to retain his title. The Norwegian made a fast start to his second-round meeting with Benoît Paire (ATP 67) and cruised to a straight-sets win (6-3 6-1). Ruud’s next opponent is Thanasi Kokkinakis (ATP 85), who produced a fine comeback against Federico Delbonis (ATP 62). Trailing 5-3 in the second set having lost the first 6-1, the Australian clawed his way back to level the match and then took the decider 7-5 to notch one of the finest wins of his clay-court career.
The day also saw the end of qualifier Jonas Nikles’ (ATP 317) fine run. The Geneva player went down 6-3 7-5 to Tallon Griekspoor (ATP 64) of the Netherlands after failing to convert four second-set points. With his campaign over, Nikles can look back with satisfaction on a breakthrough week, having now announced himself on the ATP Tour.
Ruud now the man to beat as Shapovalov exits
