Denis Shapovalov bows out of Australian Open after stunning 5th set collapse

At the end of the day, it will be a great lesson for a young tennis player who is just starting his career.

Despite a 5-2 lead in the final set, Canadian Denis Shapovalov was knocked out of the Australian Open by the 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday.

What a battle!

Shapovalov falls just short of a berth in the #AusOpen third round, but this 18 year old WILL be back for more! #CdnTennis pic.twitter.com/pU0A1Ebq75

— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 17, 2018

It was just the third five-set match of Shapovalov’s career and the inexperience started to show when he had a chance to wrap things up.

“It’s not really something you can train for,” Shapovalov told reporters in Melbourne. “I think it’s just experience. You have to go through it. You have to play these matches.”

After the pair split a pair of 6-3 sets to open the match, Shapovalov took a 2-1 lead after a convincing 6-1 win in the third.

AIR SHAPO 👀@denis_shapo #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/gxiNcEjW7j

— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) January 17, 2018

The 18-year-old then had a chance to win the match in a fourth set tiebreaker, but couldn’t put away the Frenchman.

It didn’t look like that would matter once Shapovalov took a 5-2 lead in the final set, especially when he served for the match up 5-3.

However, Tsonga’s experience shone through as the 32-year-old broke the young Canadian back to bring the set to 5-4 and the momentum shift was obvious.

With Shapovalov on his heels, Tsonga won five straight games to take the final set 7-5 and advance to the third round of the Australian Open.

For Tsonga, it’s a little bit of revenge after Shapovalov won the pair’s first matchup during last year’s U.S. Open.

There will surely be more matches between the two, and more grand slam runs from Shapovalov, in the future, but for now the Canadian heads home, while the Frenchmen advances to face Nick Kyrgios or Viktor Troicki in round three.

Australian Open coverage continues on TSN on Wednesday with Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard set to take on the top seed on the women’s side, Simona Halep.