WHAT HAPPENED: After winning two closely contested sets, Denis Shapovalov, displaying both his signature flashiness and also some mature steadiness, bested Marton Fucsovics from Hungary, 6-4, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the second round of the 2025 US Open on Tuesday. Fucsovics suffered an injury in the fourth game of third set but soldiered on to finish.
Both players were coming off the biggest tournament wins of their careers earlier this year, with Fucsovics winning the Winston-Salem event the week before the US Open and Shapovalov beating three Top 10 players (Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Casper Ruud) in February on the way to the title at the Dallas Open. Both were healthy after suffering injuries in recent years.
After the two players traded breaks in the middle of the first set, the 27th-seeded Shapovalov followed an easy hold at 5-4 with aggressive forehands to force mistakes from Fucsovics and take the set on the first set point. Fucsovics’s six double faults contributed to the pressure he felt in the set, and Shapovalov displayed the shotmaking, particularly from the forehand side, that makes him a threat against anyone
In the second set, after Fucsovics broke Shapovalov in the ninth game to put the set back on serve at 4-5, Shapovalov contented himself with some steady rallying and—more than waiting for his moment to strike—he waited for Fucsovics to miss, which he did on the first set point.
In the third set, Shapovalov cruised through the first three games, including a love hold in the third game, and looked to be on his way to closing out the win. In the fourth game, down 15-30, Fucsovics pulled up with an injury and called a trainer to the court, seemingly for his back. He seemed hampered but returned to the court to play out the set in his weakened state.
After the match, Shapovalov admitted that it was “not the way you want to win in the end” but that he was “very happy to get through it” and thanked his fellow Canadian “snowbirds coming down here to support.”
WHAT IT MEANS: This vintage of Shapovalov, who is still only 26, seems to have reined in some of the chance-taking of his youth, while still enjoying pleasing the crowd. He remains a consummate and at times breathtaking shotmaker, but the crucial final games of the first two sets here were notable for his willingness to rally and be patient for either a mistake from his opponent or an opportunity to hit a winner.
He is in Jannik Sinner’s quarter of the draw, and they could meet in Round 4. To get there, he’ll have to serve better than the 51% of first serves he got in and clean up unforced errors, 35 in this match.
MATCH POINT: On Instagram, he credited his new dog, Yatzy, with helping him succeed this year: “The first week we had him, I won my first ATP 500 [tournament], so that was a good week for him.”
