Tennis: Canada’s Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov achieve childhood dream with first Davis Cup title

MALAGA – Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov fulfilled a childhood dream on Sunday as they sealed tennis history for Canada with a first Davis Cup title by beating Australia 2-0 in Malaga.

World No. 6 Auger-Aliassime eased past Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to give Canada the trophy in Sunday’s final at the expense of 28-time winners Australia.

Earlier, Shapovalov had given Canada, losing finalists to Spain in 2019, the first point with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis.

“The emotions are tough to describe,” said 22-year-old Auger-Aliassime. “Denis and I grew up together dreaming of these types of stage, dreaming of winning the Davis Cup. It’s a great moment for myself and for the country.”

De Minaur, ranked 24th, paid for failing to convert any of his eight break points, hitting just five winners as Australia played their first Davis Cup final since 2003.

Auger-Aliassime relied on his consistent serve with six aces and solid baseline play.

Shapovalov, meanwhile, was fuelled by his desire for a first singles win this week.

“Two tough losses this week and I’m very happy with the way I played today to get the win,” said the 23-year-old.

“It helped me being in the final before. Last time, it was all kind of new, we were relieved just to be there, but today we’re very much going for the trophy.”

The 18th-ranked Canadian had been out of sorts in a semi-final defeat by Italy on Saturday but hit back against Kokkinakis with 23 winners to the Australian’s five.

Shapovalov raced to a 4-0 lead after 15 minutes in Malaga, sealing the first set with his ninth winner after half an hour.

The Canadian staved off three break points in the fourth game of the second set.

Kokkinakis dug in to convert his first break point of four when Shapovalov was serving for the match and held serve.

But the Canadian was not to be denied, sealing victory on his second match point.

“It was tough to lose in 2019, it was an empty feeling and we wanted it badly this time,” said Shapovalov, whose team were humbled 2-0 by a Rafael Nadal-led Spain in the first final of the tournament’s revamped model in 2019. 

Canada had come a long way since they were eliminated in qualifying by the Netherlands back in March before being handed a wild card into the Finals after the exclusion of Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine.

Canada then finished second in Group B behind Spain in September, before eliminating Germany in the quarter-finals (2-1) and Italy in the semi-finals (2-1) earlier this week.

On Sunday, Canada’s 2-0 unassailable lead meant that the final doubles rubber did not need to be played.

“We’ve been dreaming about this for several years,” said 32-year-old doubles specialist Vasek Pospisil.

“To be here as world champions, I’m speechless. These guys are not kids any more. They’ve been crushing it. You can’t win this event without tremendous team chemistry.”

Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt said the loss was devastating for the team.

“I’m gutted for the boys. They’ve put in the commitment and the work and done absolutely everything right all year,” he said.

“They left it all out there once again; we came up slightly short but I couldn’t be prouder – and all of Australia should be proud.” AFP