Denis Shapovalov just beat three Top 10 players in four days to win his biggest title in Dallas

At just 25 years old, Canada's Denis Shapovalov has already done a lot in his career—he’s been a semifinalist at Wimbledon and a quarterfinalist at both the US Open and Australian Open, and he’s reached the Top 10 on the ATP rankings, peaking at No. 10 in 2020.

But what he did in Dallas this past week was just as incredible, and we’re not just talking about winning the biggest title of his career at the newly-upgraded ATP 500 indoor hard-court event.

It’s the way he won it—not only did he defeat three Top 10 players en route to the title, he defeated three Top 10 players in the last four days, taking out No. 4-ranked Taylor Fritz in the second round on Thursday, No. 9-ranked Tommy Paul in the semifinals on Saturday and ultimately No. 5-ranked Casper Ruud in the final on Sunday.

And it gets more impressive.

He actually hadn’t beaten a Top 10 player in 833 days going into that second-round match against Fritz—his last Top 10 win had come on October 16th, 2022, which was coincidentally a second-round win over Fritz in Vienna. The American was No. 10 at the time.

And it gets even more impressive.

Shapovalov hasn’t just won three matches in a row against Top 10 players now, he’s actually won his last six sets in a row against the elite, too, having won the second and third sets against Fritz and then dispatching both Paul and Ruud in straight sets.

SHAPOVALOV'S ROAD TO THE DALLAS TITLE:

• d. No. 55 Kecmanovic in 1st Rd, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3
• d. No. 4 Fritz in 2nd Rd, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• d. No. 25 Machac in QFs, 7-6 (5), 6-0
• d. No. 9 Paul in SFs, 7-5, 6-3
• d. No. 5 Ruud in F, 7-6 (5), 6-3

Shapovalov’s triumph in Dallas was his third career ATP title, and the first at the ATP 500 level or higher. His first two both came at ATP 250-level events, and both on indoor hard courts, too, first in Stockholm in 2019 then in Belgrade at the end of last year.

He's now projected to rise from No. 54 to No. 32 when the new ATP rankings are released, which puts him in a prime position to be seeded at upcoming Masters 1000s at Indian Wells and Miami.

Without too many points to defend in the coming months—he made just one quarterfinal between this point of the year and the fall indoor season last year—it’s a great chance for the former No. 10 to keep climbing back towards the upper echelon of the game.