GATINEAU, March 4, 2017
Local favourite Denis Shapovalov won his quarterfinal singles match on Friday afternoon at the tenth edition of the $25,000 Gatineau Futures presented by the Turpin Group, National Bank Financial, held at the Sporthèque in Hull.
Shapovalov moved past the 2013 singles and doubles champion Tim Puetz of Germany for a spot in the semi-finals. The 17-year-old Canadaian jumped out to a fast start, holding serve and breaking his opponent twice in the first set. Shapovalov relied on his strong service game, tallying four aces in the match, and was very aggressive on his service returns. Despite a tighter second set, the teenager was able to close out his opponent 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and a half.
“I knew it would be a tough match, but I thought that my service game was strong and I played well in big moments. When things got tighter in the second set, I tried to keep focused and stick to my game,” said Shapovalov after his win.
On Saturday, Shapovalov will play the Frenchman Hugo Nys, who defeated the only other Canadian left in the singles draw, Filip Peliwo from Vancouver. In a tough match, Peliwo was unable to move past his French opponent, losing 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 17 minutes.
The tournament’s first seed, Gleb Sakharov of France, also advanced to the stage of the final four. After cruising through the first set in a little over 30 minutes, he had a little more difficulty closing out the match against his US-American opponent JC Aragone, finally winning 6-2, 7-6 in one hour and 42 minutes. Sakharov will next take on Eric Quigley from the United Stateds, who beat Maximilian Neuchrist of Austria 6-3, 7-5.
Despite losing in the second round in singles earlier this week, Felix Auger-Aliassime from Montreal was back in action with his doubles partner Denis Shapovalov. In their semi-final match, the Canadian pair faced a strong French opponent, Gregoire Barrere and Laurent Lokoli. After a tight first set, the Canadian duo dominated the second set, bringing the match to a decisive tie-break. In the end, the Canadians were not able to come away with the victory, losing 7-5, 1-6, 13-11. The French pair will play Mikelis Libietis of Latvia and Hugo Nys from France for the doubles title on Saturday.
