Canadian golden boys, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger Aliassime, decided to play both in Barcelona and the may clash against each other in the quarters. Here their stories and projected paths.
Denis Shapovalov
Even if the Canadian is not a clay court specialist, he surprised last year in Madrid where he reached the semifinal. Denis crashed out in the opening match in Monte Carlo at the hands of an in-form Jan-Lennard Struff (5-7 6-3 6-1) as he still needs to fine-tune his hyper-aggressive tennis with the reality of playing on clay. Seeded no.9 in Barcelona, this is Denis’ projected path:
R1 – Bye
R2 – Garin
R3 – Fognini (injured?)
1/4 – Auger Aliassime/Nishikori
1/2 – Zverev/Dimitrov
Fin – Nadal
Felix Auger Aliassime
The Canadian is rather confident on clay, but he didn’t surprise as some expected in the 3rd round in Monte Carlo against Zverev as the German defeated him 6-1 6-4. Seeded no.16, this is Felix’ projected path in Barcelona:
R1 – Bye
R2 – Kohlschreiber
R3 – Nishikori
1/4 – Shapovalov/Fognini
1/2 – Zverev/Dimitrov
Fin – Nadal
Head to head Denis Shapovalov vs. Felix Auger Aliassime
Even if they faced each other countless times, at pro-level, Denis and Felix played each other only on 1 occasion, and that was when Auger Aliassime had to withdraw for a heart-related issue in the 1st round of the US Open when he was 7-5 5-7 4-1 down.