Canada’s Denis Shapovalov fell 7-5, 6-3 to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier on Wednesday in first-round motion on the Japan Open tennis event.
Altmaier transformed 4 of his eight break-point probabilities, with three coming at vital instances. He broke to go up 6-5 within the first set earlier than profitable towards serve to open and shut the second set.
The German evened his profession sequence with Shapovalov at 1-1 after the 26-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., prevailed at Wimbledon final yr.
Shapovalov, who was seeded seventh in Tokyo, was taking part in on the ATP 500 event for the primary time since 2022, when he superior to the semifinals earlier than shedding to Taylor Fritz of the US.
It was Shapovalov’s first match for the reason that U.S. Open, the place he fell to top-ranked Jannik Sinner within the third spherical. He returned to motion after getting married to Swedish tennis participant Mirjam Bjorklund final weekend in Greece.
Fritz, seeded second in Tokyo this yr, was set to face Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo in first spherical motion on Thursday morning (Wednesday evening ET).
Additionally Wednesday, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., fell 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Hungary’s Anna Bondar within the opening spherical of the WTA 1000 China Open.
The 25-year-old Canadian returned to motion after sustaining an ankle damage on the Nationwide Financial institution Open in Montreal that saved her out of the U.S. Open.
Andreescu, a former world No. 4 who entered the event at No. 181, noticed her file fall to 9-9 as she continued her try and regain the shape that noticed her win the 2019 U.S. Open.
Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., seeded twenty fifth in Beijing, was scheduled to face former No. 3 Maria Sakkari of Greece on Thursday morning.
Toronto’s Victoria Mboko, seeded twenty first, additionally obtained a bye into the second spherical and can face both Czechia’s Katerina Siniakova or Russia’s Anastasia Potapova.
