Google News Davis Cup Finals: Canada becomes 16th country with title in the competition
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 6378
Canada has won its first-ever Davis Cup title after Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov stepped up big time on Sunday in Malaga. In the final at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Canada defeated Australia 2-0 to become the 16th nation with a Davis Cup title.
In the first match of the final, Shapovalov defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-2 6-4. After Shapovalov gave Canada an early lead, Auger-Aliassime clinched the crucial second point for Canada by beating Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-4.
Earlier this week, Canada defeated Germany in the quarterfinal. Then, they claimed a tight 2-1 victory over Italy to progress into the final.
How Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime won their matches
Shapovalov made an outstanding start to his match versus Kokkinakis, claiming back-to-back breaks to open an early 4-0 lead.
Up by a double break, Shapovalov routinely held on to his serve the rest of the set to win the opener. After easily winning the first set, Shapovalov earned the first break of the second set in the third game to take a 2-1 lead in the set.
In the fourth game, Kokkinakis had his first break points of the match but Shapovalov saved three break points to open a 3-1 lead in the second set. Shapovalov broke Kokkinakis again in the seventh game to open a double-break lead, but failed to serve out for the match in the eighth game.
Shapovalov maybe didn't serve out for the match in his first attempt but he made no mistake when serving for the match for the second time in the 10th game. Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime didn't really have an easy start to the match versus Alex De Minaur.
After saving two consecutive break points in the first set, Auger-Aliassime also saved a break point in the third game. Auger-Aliassime, who was under pressure on his serve at the start of the match, earned the first break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead before serving out for the opener in the ninth game.
Auger-Aliassime faced break points in the second set as well, but again saved them all - he saved two consecutive break points in the second game and three consecutive break points in the sixth game. Auger-Aliassime earned the lone break of the second set in the third game, and since he saved all five break points, he was able to close out the match in two sets.