The Canadian team shouted champion for the first time. Auger-Aliassine beat De Minaur and Shapovalov beat Thanasi Kokkinakis. “Denis and I grew up together dreaming of winning the Davis Cup,” said the 6th ranked.
Felix Auger Aliassine had an extraordinary season finale. In the last month of activity in the ATP circuit He played five competitions, won three (in consecutive weeks he was crowned in the 250 in Florence and Antwerp and the 500 in Basel), reached the semifinals of the Masters 1000 in Paris and played for the first time in the “Masters Tournament” in Turin. Thus, he climbed to sixth place in the ranking, his best position. And this Sunday, he closed 2022 with a dream title: he beat 6-3 and 6-4 to Alex De Minaur (24th), sealed the victory of Canada in the end of the Davis cup ante AustraliaIn Malaga, and gave his country its first silver salad bowl.
A while before, in the first duel of the series, Denis Shapovalov18th in the world, had defeated 6-2 and 6-4 to Thanasi Kokkinakis (95°) and had given the Americans the initial advantage.
Canada thus became the sixteenth country to win the Davis Cup and joined the list of champions that leads USA, with 32 titles. A list that did not add a new name since the unforgettable consecration of Argentina in 2016.
Australiawith 28, is the second most winning team in the competition, but the weight of its glorious history in the competition was of no use before the great day of the two Canadian players.
Auger-Aliassime arrived in Malaga as the player with the best ranking of the eight teams in the Final Phase and extended the great moment he had experienced on the professional circuit on the pitch of the Sports Palace José María Martín Carpenawhere he signed a seamless performance.
In the quarterfinals, he took his singles point against Oscar Ottethe best ranked of Germany in the tournament, and collaborated for the 2-1 victory against the Germans.
He got rid of solvency in the semifinals of Lorenzo Musettianother of the young promises that is beginning to gain prominence, to match a clash against Italiaand half an hour later he returned to the court to replace Shapovalov in the doubles, partnering with Vasek Pospisil and defeat Fabio Fognini y Matthew Berrettini in the deciding doubles.
And in the final, he did not give De Miñaur a chance. The 22-year-old North American tripled his opponent’s winning shots (16 against 5), broke his serve once in each set (for 5-3 in the first and 2-1 in the second) and provided the public with a display of his right, sharp, precise and lethal.
His win set off the Canadian festivities, which had begun after Shapovalov’s victory. The one born in Israel -his family arrived in Canada when he was barely 9 months old- redeemed himself in the final, after having lost his two singles in the previous rounds: against Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarterfinals -where he had been part of the winning doubles with Pospisil- and against Lorenzo Sonego in sowing.
But against Kokkinakis, he was able to bring out his best version. He opened the game with two consecutive breaks and went ahead 4-0. Confident, everything went well for him and in 33 minutes he had the set in his pocket.
The frustrated Australian lost his patience and began to show his anger more and more. And Shapovalov, very focused, took advantage of his powerful left foot to also direct the second quarter when he went up 4-2 on the scoreboard. He did not close it so easily, because when he served 5-2 to seal the victory, he lost his only break pm. But she did not despair and soon after, she was able to celebrate and give her country the first point.
Canada thus won the first title in its long history in Davis, a competition that it played for the first time in 1913. That year it reached the semis, as in 2013. It had to wait until 2019 to play its first final, which it lost to spain in Madrid, with a team also led by Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov.
Last year, he had finished third in group B of the Final Phase, behind kazakhstan y Sweden. Thus, he had not qualified for the Finals of this 2022 and had to play the Qualifiers in March, in which they lost 4-0 against Netherlands in The Hague.
But a couple of weeks after that painful defeat, the ITF awarded him a wild card for the appointment in Malaga, to occupy the place that had been vacated Russiachampion in 2021 and excluded this season from all country competitions due to the invasion of Ukraine. And the Canadians did not waste the opportunity.
“Emotions are hard to describe,” Auger-Aliassime said amid the festivities. “Denis and I grew up together, dreaming of these kinds of venues, dreaming of winning the Davis Cup. It’s a great moment for me and for the country.”
