TENNIS NEWS - Argentine Juan Martin del Potro made a confident start to his preparations for the Australian Open with a 6-2 6-4 win over Denis Shapovalov at the Auckland Classic on Wednesday.
Former US Open champion Del Potro hit eight aces to breeze past the 18-year-old Canadian, who hit 20 winners but committed 40 unforced errors.
The 29-year-old second seed, who won the tournament in 2009 in his last appearance, will now be the favourite after top-seeded American Jack Sock was bundled out by unheralded German Peter Gojowczyk.
Del Potro will next face Russian Karen Khachanov, who beat sixth-seeded Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-2 7-6(4), in the last eight.
"I was surprised by the match today," said Del Potro, who had lost to Shapovalov in Montreal last August. "I didn't expect to play at this level in the first match of the year.
"But I've been working hard to play this tennis and hopefully I can still improve in the next matches.
