Can Shapovalov forget?

Hopefully his match in Cincinnati does not linger in his mind for too long...

Well, he can remember the majority of it... just needs to forget about the ending. I'm talking about the choke against Jodar, from 5-1 up in the deciding set. It's not the first time Shapovalov struggles to close out matches, but yes, even by his standards, that's a rough one. At the end of that match, there is no sense of him calming down and trying to re-focus; he simply looks stressed and tries to rush through the points, repeating the same mistakes, trying to force something. If we want to look at something positive, I would say that his level has been good for a while now, both in Los Cabos and Cincinnati. He has good results during the US hardcourt swing; I would say it's the second-best condition for him, after indoor hardcourt.

And just maybe, he has been rewarded with a kind matchup? Well, the H2H certainly agrees; it's 6-0 in favor of Shapovalov against Kecmanovic. We always need to be careful with H2H (as Bellucci's match in Winston-Salem against Landaluce proves), but sometimes it is something that we can rely on, at least to some degree. Something to note is that Shapovalov has won a lot of sets quite easily, while Kecmanovic's won sets are mainly tight ones or tiebreakers, indicating further Shapovalov dominance. Well, let's have a look at the matchup. Kecmanovic does not like to face aggressive players; we have seen this over and over across the years. Miomir prefers to face weaker players on faster courts, where his superior ball-striking allows him to dictate! I would say that the matchup suits Shapovalov as well... Kecmanovic plays with a lot of rhythm; he is also not very clutch and is not someone who defends extremely well and could bother the Canadian in that way. I think Miomir is playing decently but nothing more, a level that he tends to keep for most of the year. I'll also mention that the Serb had a medical timeout for his left hip in his last match, just as a note...