Stefanos Tsitsipas will meet Denis Shapovalov in the Round of 16 at the 2023 Barcelona Open. The match will be played on Thursday April 20th, 2023.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is the second seed here at the 2023 Barcelona Open and is ranked 5th in the world. The Greek superstar has consistently been one of the best clay court players in the world, and has collected quite a few titles on the surface. At 16-5 on the season he has again been solid, but is still awaiting that first big title of the season. He wouldn’t have been satisfied with a Quarter-Final finish in Monte-Carlo and looked like a man on a mission with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Pedro Cachin to get his campaign started.
Denis Shapovalov is the 14th seed here at the Barcelona Open and is ranked 28th in the world. The Canadian certainly is one of the most talented players in the world but has seen a dramatic drop in form since 2021 where he broke into the top 10 for the first time. He has again been inconsistent to start the season, and will be hoping for a good week here in Barcelona where he has had some success in the past. A straight sets win over Josef Kovalik will have given him some confidence, but he will have to play his best match of the past two years to get any result against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
It sounds strange to say this, but this will be a straightforward win for Stefanos Tsitsipas. Denis Shapovalov is not the player that he once was, and what would have been a thrilling match a season ago seems to be one way traffic now. Shapovalov could surprise us and keep it close, but that seems very unlikely. Back Tsitsipas with confidence here in Barcelona.