Denis Shapovalov on Sunday knocked Alexander Zverev out of the Australian Open in straight sets, beating the German 6-3 7-6(5) 6-3.

Zverev never really got going against his Canadian opponent who is into his first Australian Open quarter-final after winning in two hours and 24 minutes. Shapovalov’s win over Zverev was his quickest of the tournament.

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The No 14 seed, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2021, is all set to face 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal in the last eight.

“It is always nice to finish in three but unfortunately that is not always the case,” Shapovalov said after the match.

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“It’s probably what I least expected, to finish in three, so I’m very happy with my performance and where my game is at. Off the ground I was playing really well, feeling my shots off both wings. I played pretty smart today and I felt things were going my way early on plus a little bit of momentum in the second set. I did well to come back and I kind of rolled with it afterwards,” he added.

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On playing Nadal next, he said, “It’s always an honour to go up against a guy like Rafa. We played not too long ago in an exhibition in completely different conditions, completely different matches but it’s always fun and will always be a battle against him.

Shapovalov broke the Zverev serve in the fourth game of the opening set before reeling off his remaining service games to take a surprise lead.

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The Olympic gold medallist was playing passively and Shapovalov forced him back. With the momentum fully with the Canadian, Shapovalov broke Zverev in the opening game of the second set.

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Zverev mentally checked out at the beginning of the third set and quickly slipped to a 3-0 deficit which he could not claw back as Shapovalov marched on to the quarter-finals.