CP167116085(1)

At long last, Denis Shapovalov is moving on to the third round at the French Open after downing unseeded Italian Matteo Arnaldi in four sets on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old Canadian, who is the No. 26 seed, won 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Shapovalov had never advanced past the second round at the clay-court major, making it that far on two previous occasions (2018, 2020).

Getting to the next round won’t be easy. He will next play No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz on Friday. This will be Shapovalov’s first match against the Spaniard, who defeated Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Both Shapovalov and Arnaldi held serve through the first four games of the fourth set, before the Canadian broke the Italian. It marked the fourth time the native of Richmond Hill, Ont., had taken advantage of Arnaldi’s service game. Shapovalov then broke him for a fifth time to take the final set and the match.