Canada won for the first time this Sunday in Malaga davis cup beating Australia 2-0 in the finalin a tie Denis Shapovalovpreviously denied to win and Felix Auger – Aliassimeundefeated in the entire final stage, reaching victory points.
The weight of 28 salad bowls won in competition in Australia’s glorious history was useless against its rivals. The success of two Canadian players aged 23 and 22number 18 and 6 in the world and henceforth the champion of one of the most prestigious tournaments in world sport.
Denis Shapovalov defeated Thanassi Kokkinakis. With 6-2 and 6-4 and to punish the victory, Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Alex de Minaur. The easiest draw of those played in Malaga, with 6-3 and 6-4.
Thus, Canada became the sixteenth country to win the Davis Cup, led by the United States with 32 titles and then Australia with 28 titles. The list has not been renewed since the Salad Bowl in Argentina in 2016.
Star performance from Auger-Aliassime
Auger-Aliassime came to Malaga as the best-ranked player in the last eight, sixth, and after a few spectacular weeks (three titles in October), he handed Davis a flawless performance.
He won the match against the Germans in the quarterfinals. Oscar Otte. Italian escaped payment difficulty in semi-final lorenzo musetti, another of the youngsters who need to stand out more in the upcoming seasons and returns to the field half an hour later to replace Denis Shapovalov in doubles and partner with Vasek Pospisil; They defeated Fabio Fognini and Matteo Berettini.
And in the grand finale, he met another player of his generation. Alex de Minaurwho wanted to bring “a little Spanish blood” to the final – he is a Uruguayan and a Madridist – but was stunned by the effectiveness of Auger-Aliassime.
Canadian, student since last year Tony Nadal, tripled the winners to his opponent 16-5. He broke his serve once per set (for 5-3 and 2-1), and Martín Carpena displayed his sharp, precise and deadly forehand to the Sports Palace audience.
0-40 of the sixth game of the second set was the only warning light for Auger-Aliassime. It took three seconds for the one from Montreal to extinguish it with three blows. For De Minaur, wasting three breaking points was a burden he could no longer get rid of.
Auger-Aliassime added their victory to Denis Shapovalov’s win at the start of the final, who had won a doubles match in the previous rounds but lost two singles.
The coin is expensive for Shapovalov in the end
In the coin toss with all of Shapovalov’s matches, only the tail had landed in Málaga. In the final, the coin finally fell into the round.
His 6-2 6-4 win over Thanasi Kokkinakis helped Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt question his chances of pitching him and keeping Jordan Thompson for a potential doubles match that never came.
Four days after debuting in the last eight, Shapovalov (18 ATP) focused. He opened the game with two timeouts in a row and found himself at 4-0, which gave him wings to continue taking risks and margin to do so in a meaningful way. Everything he rehearsed, volleyball, drop, parallel, went well for him. He pocketed the team in 33 minutes.
Having lost his only previous match, Kokkinakis (95) lost his patience and made angry and desperate moves every time he sat on the bench despite Hewitt’s enthusiastic support.
Despite holding his first serve in the second set, he again fell behind in the next set. He had three chances to “contra-break”, but Shapovalov sent his left foot to work and, although alternating with serious mistakes, retained the lead.
He roared like a lion as he made the score 4-2 with his right hand. The Australian tried to get into the net by varying his pace and looking for corners, but all he managed to do was find three more breaking points, from which he was able to save only two.
With a 5-2 serve, Shapovalov gave up his serve for the first time with a double mistake. With fresh balls, Kokkinakis served and held, but no longer resisted attacks by Canadians. After an hour and a half of play, Canada took a step towards the Salad Bowl. With another hour and 42 minutes left, Auger-Aliassime caught hold of him.
Canadian captain Frank Dancevic and his crew rushed to hug Auger-Aliassime, who was lying on the ground crying. The maple leaf flag draped over his tired but proud shoulders.
In 2019, the Canadians played and lost a final against Spain in Madrid. Ni Auger-AliassimeLosing to Roberto Bautista nor ShapovalovLosing to Rafael Nadal, they managed to win then. Three years of experience in Malaga proved more decisive.
Lleyton HewittThe biggest detractor of the current Davis Cup format will have to wait as a player to win the salad bowl as captain, which he won twice in the respective finals against France and Spain in 1999 and 2003.