ROME — Denis Shapovalov continued his impressive run of matches on clay Tuesday with a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Czech veteran Tomas Berdych in first-round action at the Italian Open.
The teenager from Richmond Hill, Ont., won on his first match point opportunity when Berdych, who was serving, hit into the net to end a rally.
It capped a nervy end of the match for Shapovalov, who led the tiebreak 4-0 before Berdych came back to tie it 5-5.
Shapovalov entered the Masters 1000 series tournament with a career-high ATP ranking of 29 following a run to the semifinals at last week's Madrid Open.
The Canadian recovered from a rough first set that saw Berdych, seeded 15th in Rome, convert two of three break point opportunities. Shapovalov broke Berdych once in the second set then played a solid third to earn the victory in two hours four minutes.
Shapovalov had eight aces, while Berdych had four.
Shapovalov will face Robin Haase in the second round after the Dutchman beat Russia's Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
The Canadian Press
