Canadian tennis stars Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger Aliassime and Leylah Annie Fernandez all crashed out of the Australian Open early, but a local Okanagan player is in the mix in two events at the annual Grand Slam tournament.
Kelowna’s Rob Shaw is into the quarterfinals of the quad wheelchair singles draw with a dominant opening round victory over Aussie wildcard Finn Broadbent, 6-1, 6-0.
The 34-year-old athlete slapped 27 winners to just five unforced errors in the tidy, 45-minute victory. The current world number nine will do battle with fourth ranked Israeli Guy Sasson in the quarterfinals, scheduled for Tuesday night (Jan. 23).
Shaw’s form was strongest two years ago, when he shot up the quad rankings from 29 to seven. He won at a 73 per cent clip (32 wins, 12 losses) in the year, including championships at the Birmingham Wheelchair Tennis Classic, Seoul Korea Open, German Open Berlin, Israel Open and a pair of ITF futures series in Canada. Last season, the North Bay, Ont., native competed for the first time at all four Grand Slams.
Shaw is also competing in the quad doubles event in Melbourne, with world number five, Heath Davidson. The duo reached the finals of Wimbledon and Roland Garros a season ago and won three tournaments together. The two are set to play later on Tuesday night.
More information can be found at ausopen.com/draws.