Shapovalov ends 5-match losing streak with first-round win at Queen’s Club

Canada’s Denis Shapovalov won his first ATP Tour singles match in nearly two months with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) win over British wildcard Jack Pinnington Jones in first-round action Monday at the HSBC Championships in England.

Shapovalov was given all he could handle from Pinnington Jones, who entered the match 106 places behind Shapovalov in the tour rankings at No. 147 and was the home favourite at The Queen’s Club in West London.

The 23-year-old Brit broke Shapovalov to go up 6-5 in the third set. But Shapovalov won the next game against serve to set up a tiebreaker, then took the extra session with three straight points, including two on return.

Shapovalov fired eight aces in the match. Both players converted three breaks, with two apiece coming in the third set.

Shapovalov had lost five straight matches since advancing to the quarterfinals of the clay-court BMW Open in April.

He will next face the winner of a match between top seed Alex de Minaur of Australia and Montreal’s Gabriel Diallo at the ATP 500 grass-court event.

Auger-Aliassime racks up 9 aces in Germany

Elsewhere, Montreal’s Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the second round of the Halle Open grass-court tennis tournament with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Portugal’s Nuno Borges in Germany.

Auger-Aliassime, the world No. 4 and the second seed in Halle, converted his second break of the match to go up 5-3 in the third set before serving to love in the clinching game.

The 25-year-old from Montreal out-aced Borges 9-5 and faced just two break points, saving one.

Borges also took care of his serve and faced just three break points.

The result was much better for Auger-Aliassime than his last meeting with Borges, when he retired with a cramp trailing 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of this year’s Australian Open.

Auger-Aliassime will next face Learner Tien of the United States at the ATP 500 event.