Marin Cilic kicks off grass season with Denis Shapovalov upset

Field Level Media|published: Mon 8th June, 16:37 2026

Aug 26, 2025; Flushing, NY, USA; Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in action against Marin Cilic of Croatia in the first round of the menís singles at the US Open at Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Competing in the event for the first time since 2017, Croatia's Marin Cilic kicked off grass-court season with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5 upset of seventh-seeded Canadian Denis Shapovalov in opening-round action of the Libema Open Monday at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.

Cilic trailed 4-2 in the second set before rattling off four straight games to level the match. He again fell down a break in the third set, but broke Shapovalov in each of his final three service games, converting 7 of 10 break-point chances.

Next up for Cilic will be Portugal's Nuno Borges, who swept France's Terence Atmane 6-4, 6-4. Borges had just two aces to Atmane's 13 but had nearly half as many unforced errors (12 to 23) and never faced a break point.

No. 5 seed Ugo Humbert of France faced little resistance in a 62-minute 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer in the final match of the day. He'll next face countrymate Benjamin Bonzi, who defeated 18-year-old Dutchman Mees Rottgering 6-4, 6-4.

BOSS Open

Italy's Mattia Bellucci knocked off No. 7 seed Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina with a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-1 win in a first-round match at Stuttgart, Germany.

After coming up short of a sweep in the second-set tiebreaker, Bellucci dominated the third set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Despite hitting just 48% of his first serves in the deciding set, he won 74% of his service points and converted five break points in the match to Davidovich Fokina's one.

Another Spanish competitor, Martin Landaluce, recorded his first tour-level win on grass Monday, beating France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. He'll have his hands full in the second round against No. 2 seed and defending champion Taylor Fritz, who got a first-round bye as a top-four seed.

Belgian qualifier Gauthier Onclin beat Hungary's Fabian Marozsan 7-6 (6), 6-3, and awaits the winner of the match between France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Russian lucky loser Roman Safiullin, which was suspended due to rain with Safiullin ahead 4-1 in the third set.

--Field Level Media

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