(Valencia) Félix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil teamed up in doubles to defeat South Korea and give Canada their first win in the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals on Tuesday.
Updated yesterday at 7:13 p.m.
Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil defeated the duo of Nam Ji Sung and Song Min-Kyu 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in a clash that lasted two hours and 18 minutes.
In the decisive set, the two South Koreans had taken the lead thanks to a break in the first game, before seeing Auger-Aliassime and Pospisil recover this break in the sixth game. late before closing the duel in the ninth game, without conceding a single point.
In one of the two singles matches on the day’s schedule, Kwon Soonwoo tied South Korea 1-1 with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Auger – Aliassime.
Earlier, Canada took a 1-0 lead when Pospisil overcame Hong Seong Chan 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) after a 2:36 long duel.
PHOTO PABLO MORANO, REUTERS
Vasek Pospisil beat Korea’s Seong-Chan Hong 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 (5).
Auger-Aliassime, 13e world racket, led 4-1 in the first set after winning the first three games to nil. He seemed to be in control of the encounter, until Kwon, 74e in the world, does not turn the tide.
The South Korean won six of the next eight games and 12 of the last 17 in the match to force the presentation of the doubles match.
After having flown over the second round, Pospisil, who is in his 24e Davis Cup presence, quickly trailed 3-0 and 4-1 in the third set. But he came back to a tie and the experience of the 32-year-old veteran eventually allowed him to win the tiebreaker.
“It was one of those games where I’m just glad I was able to keep my cool,” Pospisil said in his postgame press conference.
“I fought well,” he added. I didn’t let myself down even though I had to work hard to defeat a player who was lower ranked than me, but who is obviously playing very well. »
For the rest of the group stage, Canada, which plays in Group B, has an appointment with Spain on Friday and Serbia on Saturday.
Spain are led by Carlos Alcaraz, the rising star of men’s tennis and winner of the US Open singles final on Sunday in New York.
Serbia, however, must do without the services of Novak Djokovic who announced his withdrawal from competition last week for personal reasons.
The top two countries from each of the four groups will advance to the finals, scheduled for November 21-27 in Malaga, Spain.
