Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov guide Canada to winning start in Davis Cup Finals Group Stage | ATP Tour

Match Report

Felix, Shapovalov guide Canada to winning start in Davis Cup Finals Group Stage

Germany beats Slovakia in Group C

September 10, 2024

Canada made a winning start to its Group D Davis Cup Finals Group Stage on Tuesday in Manchester, where Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov earned victories to move the former champion into a 2-0 lead against Argentina with the remaining doubles to play.

In the opening match of the day, Shapovalov moved past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-3 to earn victory against the No. 31 player in the PIF ATP Rankings after one hour and 37 minutes.

Shapovalov converted all four break points he conjured up and capitalised on an erratic performance from Cerundolo, who committed 51 unforced errors.

World No. 21 Auger-Aliassime then walked onto court and brushed past Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-3. Auger-Aliassie suffered a disappointing first-round exit at the US Open last month but looked in control throughout on the indoor hard courts in Manchester to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

The Group Stage takes place in four cities, from Tuesday to Sunday, in Bologna, Manchester, Valencia and Zhuhai. Each group consists of four countries, with the top two countries in each group advancing to the Final 8, which will take place in Malaga on 19-24 November.

In Group C, Germany shrugged off the sapping heat and humidity in Zhuhai to complete a 3-0 opening-day triumph over Slovakia and make a flying start to its campaign.

Michael Kohlmann’s side, playing without their top four singles players in the absence of Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff, Dominik Koepfer and Daniel Altmaier in Zhuhai this week, were still able to produce a result befitting the nation’s stature in the game, dropping a solitary set across three matches on Tuesday.

Maximilian Marterer toppled Lukas Klein 6-4 7-5 in the day’s opening singles before Yannick Hanfmann shook off the early rust for a battling 3-6 6-3 7-6(3) win over Jozef Kovalik to put the tie beyond doubt.

Ever-reliable duo Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz completed a 3-0 clean sweep with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Klein and Igor Zelenay in the doubles.

“I’ve very happy. We performed well today,” reflected German captain Michael Kohlmann. “In all matches we kept trying to find ways to win somehow. Yannick maybe wasn’t playing his best tennis but he kept fighting and found a way to win the match, and Maxi gave us a great start.

“He came out very good, very focussed, very concentrated. It was very important for the whole team to start with a win.” 

Contribution from daviscup.com in the report.