Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov fulfilled a childhood dream on Sunday as they sealed tennis historical past for Canada with a primary Davis Cup title by beating Australia 2-0 in Malaga.
World quantity six Auger-Aliassime eased previous Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-4 to provide Canada the trophy in Sunday’s remaining on the expense of 28-time winners Australia.
Earlier Shapovalov had given Canada, crushed finalists in 2019 to Spain, the primary level with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“The emotions are tough to describe,” stated 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 24, paid for failing to transform any of his eight break factors, hitting simply 5 winners as Australia performed their first Davis Cup remaining since 2003. Auger-Aliassime relied on his constant serve with six aces and stable baseline play.
Shapovalov in the meantime was fuelled by his want for a primary singles win this week.
“Two tough losses this week and I’m very happy with the way I played today to get the win,” stated 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.”
‘Tremendous chemistry’
The 18th-ranked Canadian had been out of types in a semi-final defeat to Italy on Saturday however hit again towards Kokkinakis with 23 winners to the Australian’s 5.
Shapovalov raced to a 4-0 lead after quarter of an hour in Malaga, sealing the primary set along with his ninth winner after half an hour.
The Canadian staved off three break factors within the fourth recreation of the second set.
Kokkinakis dug in to transform his first break level of 4 when Shapovalov was serving for the match and held serve however the Canadian was to not be denied sealing victory on his second match level.
“It was tough to lose in 2019, it was an empty feeling and we wanted it badly this time, said Shapovalov.
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,” stated 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.”