Canada’s Shapovalov downs Sandgren to advance to third round at Winston-Salem

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to the third round of the Winston-Salem Open with a 6-2, 6-4 win over American Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday.

Shapovalov, the No. 2 seed at the ATP 250 tournament, received a bye into the second round.

He converted 5-of-12 break points to beat the 73rd-ranked Sandgren in one hour 17 minutes.

The 20-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., came into the week ranked No. 38.

He was coming off back-to-back second-round exits at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, both Masters 1000-level events.

Shapovalov, the third-highest ranked Canadian behind No. 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime and No. 22 Milos Raonic, will play 49th-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia in the next round.

The two young rising stars — Kecmanovic is 19 — have never played each other before on the ATP Tour.