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De Minaur ousts slumping Shapovalov in straight sets in Montreal

Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images Sport / Getty

MONTREAL (AP) — Alex de Minaur of Australia beat Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday in a first-round match at the at the National Bank Open that was suspended by rain a day earlier.

The players were tied 3-3 in a second-set tiebreaker on Monday night when rain forced a postponement. Once they returned to IGA Stadium’s center court, Shapovalov managed to win just one of five points.

The slumping Canadian, ranked one position below de Minaur at No. 22, has just one victory in his last nine matches.

Shapovalov gave up the first service break of the match to end the first set. He was more aggressive in the second set and seemed close to forcing a decider before the rain started.

When play resumed, the Canadian had serve but double-faulted. Two errant backhands gave de Minaur a pair of match points and he converted on the first opportunity.

In other action, American Tommy Paul beat Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4, and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, the No. 15 seed, posted a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Canadian wild-card entry Alexis Galarneau.

Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta surprised 11th-seeded Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2. Marin Cilic, the No. 13 seed, advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over fellow Croatian Borna Coric.

British wild card Andy Murray was scheduled to play 10th-seeded American Taylor Fritz in the feature evening match.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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