Thanks to singles wins from Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, Canada won the first ATP Cup in its history on Sunday in Australia.
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The maple leaf defeated Spain in the final of this third edition of this prestigious tournament. It is a rematch for the Canadians as they suffered the loss to the European country in the Davis Cup final in 2019.
It was Auger-Aliassime, the captain of Canada for this event, who concretized the victory of his team defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in two sets of 7-6 and 6-3.
“The emotions I am experiencing right now are incredible. There is no better feeling than that of victory, ”said Auger-Aliassime, whose comments were reported by the ATP website.
“We left everything on the court. We have come a long way in this competition, having lost our first four games. But we never stopped believing in it. ”
Imagine the Canadian course, “FAA” had to show resilience during its last game of the competition. Trailing 2-0 in the first inning, he rolled up his sleeves and resumed his break of serve on the third point. The Montreal native then saved eight break points to finally win in the first set. The latter lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes. The match ended after more than 2 hours of competition.
«[Dans ce type de situation], you owe it to yourself to go to the limits, think of positive things and imagine how you are going to earn this point, revealed Auger-Aliassime. You have to keep going and I was able to do it. Sometimes it’s a matter of luck. Today [dimanche], I was good at the key moments. ”
“Shapo” starts strong
Rather in the final, Denis Shapovalov gave Canada the lead by winning the first game of the final confrontation against Pablo Carreño Busta.
The game ended in 1 hour and 40 minutes, with a final score of 6-4, 6-3 in favor of the Ontarian.
The Spaniard started off with a head start, having won four of his five career clashes against Shapovalov. Throughout today’s encounter, however, “Shapo” made good use of his long reach to gain control of the game. He was able to save eight of the nine break points his rival had given himself and ended the match with seven aces.
The Canadian team was also made up of Brayden Schnur and Steven Diez. Canada is the third country to win the ATP Cup since its inception, after Serbia in 2020 and Russia in 2021.