ATP

Tiafoe crushes McDonald, Wu woe for Shapovalov in Dallas

By Sports Desk February 09, 2023

Denis Shapovalov suffered defeat at the hands of China's fast-rising Wu Yibing at the Dallas Open.

Wu landed a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 win against the Canadian Davis Cup winner and former top-10 player in their second-round contest.

World number 97 Wu, who this week became China's second player to reach the ATP top 100, has surged from 1,869th on the ranking list last April and believes he can crack the top 30 by the end of the year.

Speaking after getting the better of Shapovalov, who stands at 27th in the rankings, Wu said: "I've been playing great tennis the past few months. Hopefully I can keep playing good."

Frances Tiafoe cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-3 win over fellow American Mackenzie McDonald.

Second seed Tiafoe was playing for the first time since his third-round elimination to Karen Khachanov at the Australian Open last month.

He faced just one break point in the entire match and needed just 59 minutes to deal with the world number 59.

J.J. Wolf, seeded sixth, will face Tiafoe in the last eight after he saw off Romania's Radu Albot in a 6-3 7-6 (7-5) win.

At the Cordoba Open, fifth seed Pedro Cachin was the biggest casualty on Wednesday as he was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien.

Seventh seed Pedro Martinez was also ousted in the first round, while Bernabe Zapata Miralles was sent packing by Tomas Barrios Vera in the last 16, losing 5-7 6-4 6-3.

Fourth seed Sebastian Baez had no such issues with Italy's Luciano Darderi, however, reaching the quarter-finals as a 6-3 6-4 winner.

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