Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime led Canada to victory by defeating Russia’s Roman Safiullin and Daniil Medvedev on Saturday, moving Canada into its first ATP Cup final.
Canada will meet Spain in Sunday’s final.
Shapovalov kicked the Canada-Russia matchup off by defeating Safiullin in a singles match. Medvedev then beat Auger-Aliassime in a singles tilt of their own to bring things level.
All four players then faced off in a deciding doubles match, and the Canadians vanquished the Russians with a victory in the super tiebreaker (10 points instead of seven).
Saturday marked the first time in Shapovalov’s career he faced Safiullin, and the lack of familiarity showed early. Safiullin was poised to force the upset over the 14th-ranked Shapovalov, having six breakpoints at 2-1 in the deciding set.
But the 22-year-old Canadian refused to fade quietly.
Shapovalov saved each of them to hold serve, and then wielded the shift in momentum to break for 4-3 and never looked back, completing the win in two hours and 39 minutes.
“Definitely super tough. Obviously Roman is playing with a lot of confidence,” Shapovalov said. “He’s a great player and surely he’s going to have an amazing season, so I’m very happy to get the win. It was definitely very tough.
“He’s shown this competition that he definitely should be ranked in the Top 100. The way he was playing today, it was top-10, top-20 tennis, it was incredible.”
Medvedev, ranked. No. 2 in the world, easily took out Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-0 in the ensuing match to force the deciding doubles tilt.
Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime lead Canada to first-ever ATP Cup final
Source: Pinas Ko Mahal
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