Denis Shapovalov won the second title of his career on the ATP Tour with a 6-4 victory over Hamad Medjedovic at the Belgrade tournament.
Shapo won his first tournament in Stockholm in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP level title this season.
The Canadian, ranked 78th in the world, had to go through qualifying in order to participate in the main draw. He only dropped one set en route to the trophy.
He notably defeated the fifth seed, Nuno Borges, in the round of 16, before defeating the fourth, Jiri Lehecka, in the semi-final.
In the final, Shapo had 13 aces to his opponent’s only 2. He also saved two break points.
With this victory acquired in 1 hour 14 minutes, Shapovalov will become 56th player in the world on Monday, his best ranking in a year.
Former world No. 10, the 25-year-old Canadian was left with a quarter-final defeat against Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the ATP 500 tournament in Basel at the end of October.
His last appearance in the final of a tournament was in Vienna in 2022.
Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and has spent most of this year slowly returning to his high level of play.
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