Canadian qualifier Brayden Schnur has made an improbable run to the semi-finals at the ATP Tour’s New York Open.
Schnur, ranked 154th in the world, beat Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-7 (7), 7-6 (5), 7-5 on Friday in a quarter-final at the ATP 250 event.
The 23-year-old native of Pickering, Ont., who had never won a main tour match before this week, how now triumphed in five straight matches – two in qualifying and three in the main draw.
The biggest win was a three-set triumph over world No. 34 Steve Johnson of the United States, in the second round. Schnur is projected to go up to around No. 120 in the world if he loses in the semi-finals.
Against Lorenzi, Schnur out-aced his opponent 24-6. He fought off all three break points for Lorenzi and recorded the decisive break late in the third set to take a 6-5 lead.
The 37-year-old Lorenzi is now 111th in the world after reaching a career high of No. 33 in 2017.
Schnur, who played three years of NCAA tennis at the University of North Carolina, will face No. 6 seed Sam Querrey of the United States, or Jason Jung of Taiwan in the semis.
Shapovalov ousted
Canada’s Denis Shapovalov was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Friday, losing 6-4, 7-6 (4) to Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka.
Serving for the win on double match point, Wawrinka sealed up the victory when a Shapovalov return went long.
Wawrinka’s advantage came from converting three of the eight break points he had. His serve wasn’t overly accurate, landing just 50 per cent of his first serves. But he took 78 per cent of points when his first serve was good and won on 59 per cent of second serves. Wawrinka also did not have a double fault.
Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., didn’t help his cause with 34 unforced errors and seven double faults. But the 10th seed and world No. 25 did show glimpses of brilliance, including coming back from down two breaks to force a second-set tiebreaker. He converted both of his break-point opportunities, with both coming in the second set.
The players each had three aces.
Wawrinka advanced to the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 hardcourt tournament with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over fourth seed Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont.
Wawrinka entered the tournament ranked 68th in the world. But the Swiss veteran is a former world No. 3 and a three-time Grand Slam champion who is finding his form after a couple of injury-plagued seasons.
The victory tied the series between the players at a win apiece. Shapovalov defeated Wawrinka at a hardcourt tournament last year in Tokyo.
Wawrinka will play either Japan’s Kei Nishikori or Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in the semi-finals.