Ben Saunderson named new captain of Saskatoon Blades
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The Saskatoon Blades are passing the leadership torch to Ben Saunderson. The Manitoba player named the 63rd captain in f...
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Second-seeded Denis Shapovalov beat fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Wednesday in a second-round match at the ASB Classic.
Shapovalov, the top-ranked Canadian at a career-high No. 13, received a bye into the second round.
The 146th-ranked Pospisil, from Vancouver, qualified for the ATP Tour 250 event by winning two matches before beating Joao Sousa of Portugal in the first round.
The 20-year-old Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., and Pospisil were squaring off for the first time on tour at the Auckland event.
The two led Canada to a runner-up finish at the Davis Cup Finals in November in Madrid.
Both players have main-draw spots in next week’s Australian Open, the season’s first Grand Slam.
Shapovalov went 2-2 against top-20 opponents last week at the ATP Cup team event in Australia, beating then-No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 7 Alexander Zverev and losing three-setters to No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 18 Alex de Minaur.
Pospisil, 29, did not play in the ATP Cup.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2020.
The Canadian Press