Denis Shapovalov is now making his deepest run in a major after a five-set Wimbledon quarterfinal win against Karen Khachanov 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. Shapovalov needed to overcome adversity being down 2-1 but he really took over the match in sets four and five. With the win, he is now even with his previous career-high ranking of 10th in the world.
Shapovalov’s first serve was on fire for most of the match as he won 86 percent of those points. He added 17 aces which by far exceeded Khachanov’s total of 3. In fact, Khachanov’s double fault total more than doubled that of his ace total (7).
The Canadian had more success with his aggressive play and continued the trend of his past two matches. He hit 59 winners, 15 on the forehand side, on 48 unforced errors and thrived at the net by winning 29 points. Khachanov hit 31 winners but recorded an unhealthy 50 unforced errors, 15 on the backhand side, and only won 14 points at net.
Shapovalov’s semifinal opponent, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, will serve as a very tough test. Djokovic won another straight-set match, this time against Marton Fuscovics 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. He did not have to do anything spectacular to win this match because Fuscovics simply cracked under the pressure.
Djokovic leads the head-to-head versus Shapovalov 6-0 and has only lost two sets combined. Shapovalov must be effective with his aggressive play in order to have a reasonable shot at winning the match on Friday. Djokovic will look to utilize his great defensive tactics and try to force the 22-year-old into making a ton of errors. This will not be a match where Djokovic beats himself so Shapovalov must be on his A+ game.
Match stats courtesy of IBM Slamtracker