Goff in battles past Shapovalov into Tokyo quarters

[October 03, 2019]    (Reuters) - Belgium's David Goffin edged past Denis Shapovalov 7-6(5) 7-6(2) to reach the quarter-finals of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.

Belgium's David Goffin in action during his quarter final match against Serbia's Novak Djokovic REUTERS/Toby Melville

Both players failed to convert a break point, with Goffin withstanding 10 aces from his Canadian opponent in a tense encounter which lasted nearly two hours.

But Goffin won six of the first seven points in the first-set tiebreak and the first six points of the second-set tiebreak to gain unassailable leads against Shapovalov.

Third seed Goffin, the 2017 Tokyo champion, has reached his seventh Tour-level quarter-final of the season and will meet South Korea's Chung Hyeon.

"He was serving really well and I knew it'd be long sets with some tiebreaks," Goffin said.

"I tried to break him during the whole match... I didn't, but I served really well. I'm really happy about my performance because it was a good fight."

Chung fired 11 aces and won 90% of his first-serve points to overcome Croatia's Marin Cilic 6-4 3-6 6-1. The 23-year-old denied Cilic his 500th tour-level win in the process.

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by Clare Fallon)

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.