Australian Open: Denis Shapavalov beats Olympic winner Zverev in straight sets to qualify for quarters

Tennis as a sport has seen several success stories, and the story of Denis Shapavalov is right among them at the moment.

The Canadian on Sunday displayed some brilliance to knock out Germany’s Zverev in the round-of-16 of the Australian Open. Following this, he opened up about the insecurities he had overcome in the past few weeks.

It has been a great struggle story for the 22-year-old, who landed in Australia infected with the COVID-19 virus. His illness landed his chances of competing in the ATP Cup and Australian Open in doubt.

“After coming out of the quarantine and playing the ATP CUP, I had a little bit of doubt, wasn’t ready to play the first match and worked my way through the tournament,” the Canadian said. His heroics alongside Felix Aliassime saw Canada win the first ATP Title against Spain.

Now the World number 14 is raging with confidence. He defeated the world number 3 and Olympic Champion in three straight sets of 6-3, 7-6, and 6-3. The German played a significant hand in the second set to push the Canadian all way.

Shapavalov somehow still managed to stay in the game and won the set in the tiebreaker. He then regained control of the match and forced Zverev to the edge of elimination in the third set.

Shapavalov is really happy with his current run of form and looks forward to facing the world number 5, Rafael Nadal. The quarter-final will be played on Tuesday, January 25^th.