Nadal out-hot-shots Shapovalov in Rome revenge victory

Denis Shapovalov tried to follow up on his Montreal win versus Rafael Nadal, but the King of Clay proved too much in Rome on Thursday. Nadal absorbed all of the Canadian's youthful magic and answered with plenty of flair of his own to win 6-4, 6-1.

In the third game of the match, Shapovalov had Nadal sliding all the way into his backhand corner, forcing the Spaniard to send up a backward slice that'd be fortunate just to land in the court. When Shapovalov attacked it out of the air in what seemed like a point ender, Nadal whipped it back down the line to create two break points.

The teenager would have to fight off a total of eight break points in his first two service games, while Nadal wouldn't face any the entire match.

Shapovalov had his share of big shots...

Especially off his backhand wing:

But once Nadal got rolling, there was only so much Shapovalov could do.

It turns out the number of hot shots needed to beat Nadal on clay over the course of three sets, let alone five, is far greater than what Shapovalov had up his sleeve.

Nadal is into the Rome semifinals after a slight scare on Friday when he outlasted Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

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