Shapovalov beats Berdych to reach Rotterdam quarters

Denis Shapovalov continued his impressive start to 2019 with a dominant display against Tomas Berdych in Rotterdam.

The 19-year-old belted 33 winners to Berdych’s nine in a 6-4 6-3 victory, sending him through to a quarterfinal showdown with wildcard Stan Wawrinka.

Wawrinka, a three-time major champion, overcame Milos Raonic in straight sets on Wednesday to avenge his Australian Open loss to the Canadian.

Shapovalov has won five of his past six matches and last week advanced to the quarterfinals in Montpellier. He also won through to the third round of the Australian Open, pushing eventual champion Novak Djokovic to four sets.

. @stanwawrinka had me doing intervals ???? https://t.co/nCrwE0hr5s

— Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) February 11, 2019

He practised with Wawrinka earlier this week and said he was looking forward to another crack at the world No.3, whom he beat in their only previous meeting.

“I practiced with him a couple of days ago as well so I could really see he’s in good form, he’s really feeling the ball, and so am I,” Shapovalov said. “It’s going to be a really tough match but it’s gonna be fun.

“(Today against Berdych) I felt really confident, I was in control for most of the points. I was feeling a good rhythm on my shots.”

Also winning through to the last eight in Rotterdam was Gael Monfils, who recovered to beat Italian veteran Andreas Seppi 4-6 6-1 6-3.

First-round matches were also completed on Wednesday, with No.3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas stunned 6-4 1-6 7-5 by Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur.

While Dzumhur goes on to play Mikhail Kukushkin in the last 16, Marton Fucsovics will next meet No.9 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili after getting past Martin Klizan in straight sets.

Meanwhile, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Daniil Medvedev extended their winning streaks thanks to first-round wins on Wednesday.

Medvedev, last week’s Sofia champion, has now won six straight matches after beating Jeremy Chardy 7-6(2) 6-2 to set up a Rotterdam showdown with Fernando Verdasco.

Tsonga, who triumphed in Montpellier last week, has also won six matches on the trot; his latest came in straights sets against Thomas Fabbiano.

Tsonga will next meet local wildcard Tallon Griekspoor, who stunned No.2 seed Karen Khachanov in the first round.