Denis Shapovalov proved he can produce some of his best tennis with his back against the wall. Though he wasn't pushed completely to the limit on Tuesday in his first U.S. Open qualifying match, he did show that same ability to bounce back.

In his quest to qualify for the Grand Slam event that begins next week in New York City, Shapovalov defeated American Denis Kudla in straight sets (6-3, 6-4).

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Shapovalov lost breaks in each set that put him behind the eight-ball, but bounced back with breaks of his own to change the momentum of the match en route to victory.

In the first set, each player held serve in the first four games before Kudla managed to get a game of Shapovalov's serve to make it 3-2. But that would be the last game Kudla would win of the set; Shapovalv produced a break of his to even the game score at 3-3, and rolled from there, winning the next three games including a second break to take the opening set off Kudla 6-3.

A few action photos of Denis #Shapovalov today in first-round action. He's into Round 2 of qualies at the #USOpen pic.twitter.com/w0aX0zoWLP — Ash Marshall (@AMarshallSport) August 22, 2017

In the second set, Kudla again produced a break to put himself in the driver's seat, this time to go up 4-2.

But Shapovalov again showed the resolve that helped him through a surprise run at Rogers Cup in Montreal a few weeks ago, winning four straight games, including two breaks, to take the second set 6-4, and the match.

Though Shapovalov didn't win any points at the net on Tuesday, he was successful on his serve, producing 10 aces, while Kudla had none.

Unreal support today at @usopen. Thanks so much to everyone who came to watch❤ #DontStopFighting — Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) August 22, 2017

Playing in front of a hometown crowd at Rogers Cup, Shapovalov pulled a stunning upset against World then No. 2 and tournament top-seed Rafael Nadal, doing so after dropping the first set. Likewise, three of Shapovalov's four victories at the tournament required him to come-from-behind after losing the opening set. In his first matchup against Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva, Shapovalov had to recover and save four match points before squeaking out the three-set victory (4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4).

"It really helped me bring out my fighting spirit in every match that I had," Shapovalov said.

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Shapovalov will now play Gastao Elias of Portugal, who won his opening-round qualifier against countryman Goncalo Oliveira (6-4, 4-6, 6-1). That match will take place Thursday at 11 a.m. ET. Shapovalov would need to win one more match after that to advance to the main bracket, which begins play Monday, Sept. 2.

In other qualifying action, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, one of Shapovalov's best friends and training partners, also won his opening-round matchup, defeating Japanese challenger Hiroki Moriya (6-3, 6-3).

Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime are two of five Canadians on the men's side attempting to qualify, along with Peter Polansky, Frank Dancevic and Brayden Schnur. The other three begin their qualifying quests on Wednesday.

On the women's side, Francoise Abanda and Bianca Andreescu are each attempting to qualify.