By Canadian Press

Canada’s Shapovalov drops singles match, tying up quarterfinal against Aussies

Nov 21, 2019 | 1:39 PM

MADRID — Canada will play a winner-take-all doubles match in a quarterfinal against Australia at the Davis Cup Finals after its first singles loss of the competition.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., missed a chance to clinch the tie for Canada, losing 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Alex de Minaur of Australia in the second singles match of the best-of-three tie on Thursday.

Earlier, Vancouver’s Pospisil beat Australia’s John Millman 7-6 (7), 6-4.

Shapovalov and Pospisil were scheduled to face John Peers and Jordan Thompson in the doubles match later Thursday.

The winner will face Serbia or Russia in the semifinals on Saturday.

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Shapovalov’s loss was Canada’s first in six singles matches at the event. De Minaur, 3-0 in singles at the tournament, broke Shapovalov to take a 6-5 lead in the third set and finished off the Canadian on his second match point.

The contest featured two 20-year-olds ranked in the top 20 — Shapovalov is 15th, while de Minaur is 18th.

Pospisil, meanwhile, recorded his third major upset at the Finals.

Ranked 150th in the world after missing the first half of the year following back surgery, Pospisil has beaten No. 12 Fabio Fognini of Italy, No. 36 Reilly Opelka of the United States and No. 48 Millman this week.

Pospisil, 29, fought off two set points in the opening tiebreak before taking it. He is now 4-0 in tiebreaks this week.

The Canadian broke Millman in the final game to win the match.

Pospisil won 85 per cent of his points when he got his first serve in and had the 15-1 edge in aces.

Pospisil was a late addition to Canada’s starting lineup for its opening tie against Italy with Felix Auger-Aliassime making his way back from an ankle injury.

While Canada has said Auger-Aliassime could play, team captain Frank Dancevic elected to ride the hot hand in Pospisil against Australia.

The Aussies elected to rest No. 30 Nick Kyrgios.

A former world No. 4 in doubles and No. 25 in singles, Pospisil beat then-No. 9 Karen Khachanov at the U.S. Open this year and reached the round of 16 at the Shanghai Masters. Pospisil, from Vancouver, also won two lower-level Challenger tournaments this fall.

Milos Raonic, the world No. 31 from Thornhill, Ont., did not make the trip due to a back injury.  

The Davis Cup was first played in 1900 and Canada made its first appearance in 1913. Canada reached the World Group semifinals in 2013.

The competition is using a new format this year with the six group winners and the next two best teams advancing to the quarterfinals. The final is set for Sunday.

The four semifinalists secure spots in the 2020 Davis Cup Finals. The rest of the teams in the 2019 Finals have to play qualifying ties next year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2019.

The Canadian Press