Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime yesterday put in commanding performances against Spanish opponents to win their respective singles matches and fire Canada to the ATP Cup title.
Shapovalov showed plenty of aggression to beat Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-3 in the opening singles rubber to put Canada one win away from winning the US$10 million team-based competition.
World No. 11 Auger-Aliassime then served strongly to take down Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(3), 6-3 and give Canada an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie.
Photo: Reuters
Canada, the first team in the ATP Cup’s three-year history to have lost a tie en route to the final, were swept by the US in their group opener and also lost their first match against Britain.
However, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov, who had contracted the COVID-19 in the lead-up to the tournament, bounced back with tie wins over Britain, Germany and then last year’s winners Russia.
“The emotions are unbelievable. There’s no better feeling than winning. We left everything out there,” said Auger-Aliassime. “We came back from far in this competition, losing our first four matches, but we never stopped believing.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I think that’s very important. We trust each other to the highest level ... it came down to the perfect result,” he said.
Carreno Busta came into the evening contest at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney brimming with confidence, having not dropped a set all week and with a 4-1 head-to-head record against the 14th-ranked Shapovalov.
The 22-year-old left-hander survived a barrage of breakpoint chances, including five in the opening game of the match, and held his nerve to claim victory in 1 hour and 38 minutes to give Canada a 1-0 lead in the tie.
“[I had] a little bit of nerves going out. Obviously I’ve got a tough record against Carreno Busta, so I knew it was going to be a tough match,” Shapovalov said.
Spain ended up as ATP Cup runner-up for a second time after losing the 2020 final to Serbia.
Auger-Aliassime saved 10 of the 11 break points he faced, hit 15 aces against Bautista Agut and another big serve on his second matchpoint was enough to close out the match in two hours and 10 minutes and spark celebrations in the Canada camp.
In Adelaide, world No. 1 Ash Barty was in imperious form, as the Australian handed Elena Rybakina a 6-3, 6-2 defeat at Memorial Drive to win the Adelaide International and claim the 14th WTA title of her career.
Barty, who won the event in 2020, dominated against the 22-year-old seventh seed from Kazakhstan to win in just more than an hour, as she hits form a little more than a week ahead of the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
“The work that I do with my team behind the scenes puts me in the best possible position to play good tennis time, and time again each and every time we’re asked,” Barty told reporters. “I certainly feel pretty good coming into the summer.”
In the men’s Adelaide ATP 250 event, French top seed Gael Monfils defeated second-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4 6-4 for his 11th tour title.
Elsewhere, top seed Rafael Nadal beat American qualifier Maxime Cressy 7-6(6), 6-3 to win the Melbourne Summer Set 1 ATP 250 event and build up momentum heading into the Australian Open.
Earlier yesterday, former world No. 1 Simona Halep stormed past Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-3 at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 final to claim her 23rd career title.
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