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MELBOURNE, Australia — Top Canadian Denis Shapovalov will begin play at the Australian Open against an unfamiliar opponent.
The No. 13 seed from Richmond Hill, Ont., will square off with world No. 66 Marton Fucsovics of Hungary in the opening round of the first Grand Slam of the season.
It will be the first career meeting between the two players.
The draw was held Thursday.
Shapovalov, 20 opened the 2020 season with wins against top-10 players Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas at the ATP Cup before losing in a third-set tiebreak against No. 2 Novak Djokovic at the team event.
The Canadian was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic on Thursday following a loss against Ugo Humbert in Auckland.
Shapovalov is in the same section of the Australian Open draw as Roger Federer and could face the Swiss legend in the fourth round.
Three other Canadians have secured spots in the men’s main draw — No. 20 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, No. 32 Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil.
The 19-year-old Auger-Aliassime, who has advanced to the semifinals at the Adelaide International tuneup event, will face a qualifier in his Australian Open debut.
Raonic, who has seen limited action since last summer because of a back injury, faces world No. 48 Radu Albot of Moldova in the opening round. The two players never have squared off.
Last year, Raonic, 29, reached the Australian Open quarterfinals.
Pospisil, 29, is using his protected ranking of No. 73 to get into the tournament after missing the first half of last year following back surgery. He faces world No. 123 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.
Pospisil has a 4-1 career record against Karlovic.
Brayden Schnur of Pickering, Ont., and Steven Diez of Toronto both are still alive in men’s qualifying.
No Canadians received direct entry into the women’s main draw after reigning U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., dropped out with a knee injury.
Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., has reached the third and final round of qualifying, while Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que., has advanced to the second round.
The main draw starts Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2020.
The Canadian Press