VIENNA -- Canada's Denis Shapovalov will be moving on to the Vienna Open final after topping Borna Coric 7-6 (4), 6-0 on Saturday.
The Richmond Hill, Ont., native won a blistering 95 per cent of his first-serve points in addition to hitting seven aces.
Shapovalov also broke on three of his four opportunities.
"Definitely another great match for me," Shapovalov said. "Obviously Borna's played some long difficult matches, so I think the first set was very important.
"I was really happy, I played a great tiebreak. I thought it was very close from both of us. Just one point I think made the difference. ... Getting the break early on in the second set kind of just gave me a bit more energy and, you know, kind of made him lose, I think, a little bit of belief, but a great match for me."
Shapovalov sent the first set to a tiebreak after matching Coric with every game he won. The Canadian won the first three points in the final set before Coric came back to win four of the next seven. The 23-year-old Shapovalov won the set with an ace.
In a dominant second set, Shapovalov broke Coric's serve in the second game before saving a break point chance from Coric in the third. Shapovalov broke again in the fourth game as he held the Croatian scoreless en route to victory.
Shapovalov is now 2-2 in career matchups against Coric, having now won two straight over him.
World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev will be Shapovalov's next opponent Sunday as he looks to win his second career title and first this year. Medvedev is 3-2 in his career against Shapovalov.
"It's a good opportunity for me playing against a guy like Daniil," Shapovalov said. "(I) beat him a couple times before -- he's a great player though.
"I mean, he's playing tremendously. The last couple times he got me and he's very tricky. He's having a great week. He's been playing well the whole time here, so it's going to be a difficult battle, but looking forward to it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2022.
