Alexander Zverev's terrible run of form showed no signs of abating Tuesday after the German surrendered meekly to Canada's Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-2 in the ATP Cup's third round. Canada won the tie in Brisbane 2-1 to keep alive their hopes of reaching the inaugural event's quarter-finals after Shapovalov teamed with Felix Auger-Aliassime to win the deciding doubles rubber. The pair edged Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in a high quality match.
Shapovalov cruised to his win in just 70 minutes to level the tie after Jan-Lennard Struff had earlier got Germany away to a winning start with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Auger-Aliassime. Zverev needed to beat Shapovalov to keep Germany in the hunt for a quarter-final spot in Sydney later this week. But Shapovalov took control from the outset against an opponent whose serve was misfiring and whose body language suggested a player badly out of form, with less than two weeks before he appears at the Australian Open. It was Zverev's third straight loss at the ATP Cup.
He fell to Australian Alex de Minaur in three sets in the first round before suffering a comprehensive 6-1, 6-4 loss to Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday. The world number seven conceded he had major problems ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year.