Canada's Leylah Fernandez plays a shot against Denmark's Clara Tauson during their second round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Canadians Gabriela Dabrowski and Fernandez are headed for a third-round showdown in the women's doubles draw at the French Open. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Jean-Francois Badias
PARIS – Playing on his preferred surface, world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz proved to be too much for Canada’s Denis Shapovalov at the French Open.
Alcaraz cruised to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over the 26th-seeded Canadian, whose occasional flashes of brilliance were undone by unforced errors.
Shapovalov showed a lot of fight in the match despite the lopsided score, particularly going up a break in taking a 4-1 lead in the second set.
But Alcaraz got that break back and won the next five games to take the set as Shapovalov put his holds in jeopardy with ill-timed double faults.
Alcaraz opened the third set with a break of Shapovalov, who was playing in the third round at Roland Garros for the first time in his career, and won on his second match point when Shapovalov hit the ball into the net.
Earlier, Gabriela Dabrowski and Leylah Fernandez won their women’s doubles matches to set up a third-round showdown between the Canadians and their respective partners.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2023.
