Sports Shapovalov falls to Djokovic in Canadian's first Masters 1000 final

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PARIS — Denis Shapovalov's first appearance in a Masters 1000 final didn't end the way he wanted it to.

The Canadian was beaten by world No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday in the final of the Paris Masters.

The loss capped a solid week for Shapovalov, who will rise to a career-high No. 15 when the new rankings are released Monday. His previous career high was No. 20, and he came into the Paris Masters at No. 28.

Shapovalov defeated higher-ranked opponents in three straight matches to reach the semifinals of the tournament, including an upset over No. 6 Alexander Zverev in the round of 16. He advanced to Sunday's final when second-seeded Rafael Nadal withdrew with an abdominal strain before their match on Saturday.

Denis Shapovalov gets call for Canada's Davis Cup team

MONTREAL — Fresh off his first ATP Tour title, Denis Shapovalov has been named to Canada's team for the inaugural Davis Cup Finals. Shapovalov, who won the Stockholm Open on Sunday, will be joined by Felix Auger-Aliassime, Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil at the Davis Cup Finals on Nov. 18-24 in Madrid. Canada is grouped with Italy and the United States. There are six groups in the 18-team event. The group winners and the next two best teams advance to the quarterfinals. This marks the first time the Davis Cup champion will be crowned at a neutral site during a weeklong event.

Canada ' s Denis Shapovalov advanced to the finals of the Paris Masters on Saturday when opponent Rafael Nadal withdrew with an injury before the match. The Canadian is 0-3 against Djokovic in his career. All three of those losses have come this season — two in Masters 1000 tournaments and the

Shapovalov will be playing his very first Masters 1000 final , his best previous Masters 1000 results being three semifinal finishes at Montreal in 2017 Djokovic has beaten Shapovalov in all three of their previous meetings, all of those meetings coming this year. He won in four sets in the third round

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Djokovic, who won his fifth title at the Paris Masters, improved to 4-0 against Shapovalov. All four of those wins have come this season.

"Congrats to Novak, he's put in so much work, so much effort over the year, and huge congrats to his team, they've done an incredible job," Shapovalov said on court after the match.

Djokovic returned the praise when he was handed the mic.

"The best things are yet to come for you," he said to Shapovalov.

Shapovalov fired 11 aces to Djokovic's two and won 83 per cent of his first-service points, but the Canadian also double-faulted three times and was done in by some ill-timed unforced errors.

Djokovic saved the only break point he faced over the course of the match, which lasted just one hour eight minutes. He converted on two of four break points.

Canadian Milos Raonic takes opener at Paris Masters, beating Cameron Norrie

PARIS — Canada's Milos Raonic has won his first official match since early August. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., downed Great Britain's Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Paris Masters on Monday. Ranked 32nd in the world, Raonic returned from a two-plus-month layoff because of a back injury last week and lost to Hyeon Chung in the opening round of the Erste Bank Open in Austria. It was a much better performance against world No. 57 Norrie. Raonic had 14 aces and won 97 per cent of points when he got his first serve in. Norrie didn't have one break-point opportunity against Raonic. The Canadian will face No.

Top seed Novak Djokovic continued his pursuit of his fifth title at the Rolex Paris Masters , and his 34th Masters 1000 trophy, following a 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday. The 32-year-old Serb has reached his sixth ATP Tour final in 2019 and 50th ATP Masters 1000 final of his career.

The Canadian is 0-3 against Djokovic in his career. All three of those losses have come this season — two in Masters 1000 tournaments and the other at the Australian Open. Djokovic and Dimitrov won more than 80 per cent of first serve points in a tight opening set where neither faced a break point.

Sunday's victory gave Djokovic his 77th career ATP title, tying John McEnroe for fifth all-time. It was also his 34th Masters 1000 titles, one back of Nadal.

Djokovic served out the match with a love hold, hitting a forehand winner before turning to look at his box and raising his arms in triumph.

Shapovalov entered the match with only one career title — a modest ATP 250-level tournament in Stockholm last month — and the big-serving left hander looked tense, making three unforced errors in his first service game and slipping quickly to 3-0 down against a composed Djokovic playing in his 50th Masters final and 111th overall.

After botching a return on Djokovic's opening serve of the seventh game he whacked his racket into the ground in frustration.

Dropping only four points on his serve in the first set, Djokovic clinched it with another dominant serving game which included two aces and concluded with a volleyed forehand winner at the net.

Shapovalov was up against it right from the start of the second set, saving a break point with an ace. Unforced errors resurfaced in the seventh game and Djokovic ruthlessly punished him with a break for a 4-3 lead.

Djokovic saved his first break point of the match at 30-40 in the next game when Shapovalov returned a sliced serve well wide.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2019.

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