Despite many difficulties, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov were able to perform well and win the crucial doubles match, allowing Canada to qualify for the ATP Cup Final Friday night to Saturday, in Sydney, in Australia.
• Read also: Novak Djokovic spends Orthodox Christmas in Melbourne detention
The Canadians won the decisive match 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 in a wonderful break over Russian Daniil Medvedev and Roman Sviulin.
“FAA” and “Shapo” struggled to adapt in the first set, with a more aggressive transmission from the Russians. Auger-Aliassime was a combative in the second set thanks to the dominant serve, which allowed the maple leaf reps to reach the super break.
In the last confrontation, Shapovalov hammered the final nail into the coffin of Medvedev and Savulin with a powerful diving shot.
Shapovalov works hard
The Canadian-Russian series began with Shapovalov, who worked hard, but eventually outpaced Svolin in three sets of 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 late on Friday night to hand over the first point to the Canadians.
Although he faced an opponent 153 places behind him in the ATP rankings, the 14th racket in the world needed more than 2 hours and 30 minutes to secure victory.
Having received honors in the first set with a break in the third, Shapovalov was unable to play the same role in the next round. Rather, it was Cebulin who managed to take the only break in the group, in the twelfth and last game, and he repeated the same scenario in the third set, while there was only one break in the match, and the advantage of “Shabu” in the seventh game.
The Canadian did relatively well on serve, winning 51 of 67 rallies when the first ball was in play.
“FAA” dominated
A few minutes later, Kipker Felix Auger-Aliassime hit a wall against dominant Daniil Medvedev. He lost 6-4, 6-0.
The first round was played with great tightness and speed, and the only break recorded in the entire round went to the Russian. He only needed 39 minutes to get rid of his opponent. Quebec could do nothing in the second round, and Medvedev left absolutely nothing to the world’s eleventh racket.
Canada will face Spain in the final.
