10th seed Hubert Hurkacz takes on 20th seed Denis Shapovalov in the third round of the 2023 Australian Open on Friday.
Hubert Hurkacz
Hurkacz began the new season by taking part in the 2023 United Cup. He won a couple of matches in the group stages before losing to Matteo Berrettini in the semifinals and Taylor Fritz in the finals.
The Polish star began the Australian Open by defeating Pedro Martinez with relative ease in the first round. The match ended in straight sets 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-2 in favor of Hurkacz. In the second round, Hurkacz had to work very hard to get the better of Lorenzo Sonego in a five-set thriller. The match ended 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 as Hurkacz managed to get through. In the two matches, Hurkacz fired a combined total of 34 aces.
Denis Shapovalov
The Canadian star competed in the Adelaide International 1. He defeated Rinky Hijikata and Roman Safiullin before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
Shapovalov played his first match at the 2023 Australian Open against Dusan Lajovic. The 23-year-old won the match in four sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. In the second round, Shapovalov defeated Taro Daniel in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5. Like Hurkacz, Shapovalov has also hit a lot of aces but he has also committed 16 double faults in total in the two matches. The talented youngster will like to keep the number of doubles faults down going forward.
Head-to-Head and Prediction
Hurkacz leads Shapovalov 3-1 in the head-to-head. The former won their previous encounter at the 2021 Miami Open in straight sets.
Prediction: Denis Shapovalov to win in five sets.
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