Haase has to bow for sensational youngster

Robin Haase has been eliminated during the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. Denis Shapovalov, who is sonly 19-year-old, was too strong for the player from The Hague in three sets in the Next Gen Arena: 7-6(3) 6-7(5) 6-3.

Shapovalov has a Russian name, was born in Israel, is living in the Bahamas and has a Canadian passport.  But, above all, he is a great talent and ranked 29^th on the world ranking.

In their first meeting Shapovalov started with a break. However, the Canadian teenager was not able to win the first set at 5-4 on his own service. Haase came back because of a forehand miss at setpoint and a missed volley. In the following tiebreak Shapovalov raced to 4-1. It was enough to win the tiebreak and the opening set with 7-3.

There was not one break in the second set. It was Haase who started off well in the tiebreak, but Shapovalov came back to 5-4 and Haase balanced on the edge of elimination when the Canadian was on serve. Haase straightened his back and fought for all he was worth and took the following three points and won the set.

In the third game in the third set Haase could not use the advantage of his break point which his young opponent did in the following game. Haase’s resistance seemed broken and Shapovalov finished the game at 5-3.

The world’s number 29 has now played two tough three-setters. Shapovalov will play none other than Rafael Nadal for a spot in the quarter-finals. The tenfold Roland Garros champion is first seed in Rome and gave Damir Dzumhur only one game earlier today: 6-1 6-0.