Denis Shapovalov punched his ticket to the semifinals of the Dallas Open with an upset victory over Spanish third seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Friday.
The seventh seed from Richmond Hill, Ont., lost 7-5 in the first set of the men’s singles quarterfinals, but came back with a 6-4, 6-3 victory to earn a spot in the semi-finals of the ATP 500 event. Shapovalov will face second-seeded American Ben Shelton, who defeated Serbian Miomir Kekmanović 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Both quarter-finals took 1 hour and 58 minutes to complete.
Top-seeded American Tyler Fitz will face Croatian Marin Cilic in the other semifinal.
Shapovalov hit 17 aces against Fokina and had only two double faults. He won 14 of 15 service games and 2 of 14 return games. He committed 39 unforced errors and won two of seven break points.
Fokina hit 2 aces, 3 double faults, 21 unforced errors, won 12 of 14 service games, and only won one of 15 return games.
Shapovalov hit 22 aces to beat American Alexander Kovacevic 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday.
