Rob Shaw picked up his first career Paralympic match win on Saturday at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, easily defeating Brazil’s Ymanitu Silva in straight sets.
In his second appearance at the Paralympics following a first-round loss at Tokyo 2020, Shaw dominated his Brazilian opponent in Paris, getting off to quick starts in both sets and never looking back as he advanced to the quarter-finals of the quad singles with a 6-2, 6-1 win.
It was a crisp performance from the Canadian, who had 26 groundstroke winners and 25 service winners. He also had only seven errors in the match, just one unforced, while Silva committed 27.
Shaw came blazing out of the gate, firing three winners in his first return game to break for a 2-0 lead. He won 16 of the first 19 points in the match to race ahead a double break at 4-0 before Silva was able to break and get on the board.
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While the Brazilian got the first break back, he was never able to catch up in the opening set. Then when serving to stay in it at 2-5, he double-faulted to give Shaw a set point where the Canadian closed it out with a backhand winner.
The second set followed nearly the same script, with Shaw again breaking twice to open the set on a four-game run. Just like the first, Silva broke to end the run in the fifth game but this time, the Canadian immediately broke back. Shaw won all of the Brazilian’s service games in the second set and managed to serve out the win in the seventh game with back-to-back winners.
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Shaw faces a big challenge in the last eight in Paris as he will clash with world No. 2 Niels Vink for a spot in the semifinals.
