BELGRADE/STARNBERG, November 9, 2024
Denis Shapovalov returned to the winner’s circle on Saturday, capturing his second ATP Tour title with a victory over Serbian Hamad Medjedovic at the Belgrade Open. Shapovalov claimed the match 6-4, 6-4, marking his first title since his breakthrough win in Stockholm back in 2019. This triumph in Serbia ended a five-year title drought for the Canadian, who was contesting his first final since Vienna in 2022.
The 25-year-old lefty fired 13 aces, saved both of the the two break points he faced and capitalized on both of his own two break-point chances to prevail after one hour and 14 minutes.
What a way to finish the year
Shapo claims his 2nd ATP Tour Title with his last event of the year #BelgradeOpen pic.twitter.com/qBDuEontmG
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 9, 2024
With this win, Shapovalov climbed 22 spots in the ATP Live Rankings, moving up to World No. 56, his highest ranking since October 2023, when he reached No. 45.
“It was extremely tough. Hamad has been playing extremely well and is a good young talent coming up,” said Shapovalov, who received the trophy from none other than Belgrade native Novak Djokovic.
“It is not easy playing the young guys. He served well and I was trying to do my best to get into his games and I got a bit lucky in the first set to break him. I hit a couple of lucky returns and kind of carried that momentum early into the second.”
