In Delray Beach Denis Shapovalov narrowly prevailed in the generational duel with Ivo Karlovic.
In fact, there are younger players on the ATP tour than Denis Shapovalov, the 18-year-old Canadian who left a few scents on the scene last year. Shapovalov’s compatriot and buddy Félix Auger-Aliassime, for example, whose first performances in the last few days in Rotterdam and Marseille also give rise to hopes of success in the future. In Delray Beach, however, Shapovalov holds the title of tournament beneficiary – and had to deal with the methuselah of the industry at the beginning: Ivo Karlovic.
And Martin Laurendeau’s 18-year-old protégé Martin Laurendeau showed his best side at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Florida, beating Karlovic after 1:53 hours 7:5 and 7:6 (4). Shapovalov will face another youngster, Jared Donaldson, in round two.
Milos Raonic, on the other hand, is one of the established experts among men who play tennis. The Canadian, 2016 finalist in Wimbledon, had made himself scarce in the last few months, but not voluntarily: a wrist injury forced the serve artist to take several breaks, the comeback attempts were sometimes rather short. In Delray Beach, Raonic had originally been narrowly missed the seed list, but in the original tableau, tournament favourite Jack Sock would have been opponent Raonics.
After the withdrawal of Nick Kyrgios, Raonic slipped under the top eight players, was allowed to play Taro Daniel in round one and successfully completed the task, albeit unadorned. Now it’s against Steve Johnson.
The only German in the main draw is Peter Gojowczyk. Lukas Lacko from Munich won in three sets after trailing Lukas Lacko in round one and now challenges John Isner.
Here the single panel in Delray Beach