WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to the third round of the Winston-Salem Open with a 6-2, 6-4 win over American Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday.
Shapovalov, the No. 2 seed at the ATP 250 tournament, received a bye into the second round.
He converted 5-of-12 break points to beat the 73rd-ranked Sandgren in one hour 17 minutes.
The 20-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., came into the week ranked No. 38.
He was coming off back-to-back second-round exits at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, both Masters 1000-level events.
Shapovalov, the third-highest ranked Canadian behind No. 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 22 Milos Raonic, will play 49th-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the next round.
The two young rising stars — Kecmanovic is 19 — have never played each other before on the ATP Tour.
The Canadian Press
