Tennis Canada
GUADELOUPE – The Canadian Davis Cup team is down 2-0 to France following the first day of play in their Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first-round tie at Vélodrome Amédée Detraux in Guadeloupe on Friday.
Davis Cup veteran Frank Dancevic (Niagara Falls) was defeated in the opening match by Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 and Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver) was then unable to even the score, falling in the second rubber to Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.
Dancevic, ranked No. 245, put up a good fight but was outmatched from the start by world No. 17 Monfils. He got broken twice in the first set, despite the valiant effort, and Monfils won seven straight games and eight of nine to take the first and second set in 56 minutes.
Dancevic, who is playing in his 23rd tie for Canada and his 33rd singles match, has produced Davis Cup magic in the past. However, he just wasn’t able to match the level of his favoured French opponent today.
It was up to No. 44 Pospisil, a Vernon product, to even the tie for Canada and he came out firing on all cylinders. He jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead as Simon couldn’t get his game together and looked very out of sorts.
However, the world No. 19 player settled down and it was then Pospisil who lost his rhythm. Simon stormed back to take a 6-5 lead and then saved three break points to take his seventh straight game and the first set from a stunned Pospisil. The Canadian struggled physically for the rest of the match but kept fighting, both the conditions and his opponent. Simon continued to roll though, breaking Pospisil in the first and last games of the second set and, finally, at three-all in the third set to give his team the win and put Canada in a stranglehold.
“I don’t feel like he was the better player today and I feel like I was playing well,” said Pospisil. “It was just the way I was feeling physically that made the difference. The conditions were tough and I felt really depleted. It becomes tough to stay sharp and make decisions quickly. But overall, it is very hard to look at the match and say that tactically I could have done anything differently. He was just more fit for these conditions.”
Canada is now in a must-win situation for Saturday’s doubles match as France needs just one more victory in the three remaining matches to clinch the tie. The winner of this tie will move on to the quarter-finals to face either Germany or the Czech Republic in July. The losing nation will be forced to play a World Group playoff in September to keep their spot in the upper echelon of the competition.
“Today is over with and we are down 2-0 which is a very big hole against this French team, away and on clay,” said Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau. “But we believe we have a good chance to win the doubles tomorrow and often the last point is the hardest to clinch for the other team. Vasek is our leader here. He loves to play tennis and be on the court. He is a warrior and a fighter so we are going to see how he recovers tonight and make a decision tomorrow.”
Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is the largest annual international team competition in sport. A total of 135 nations are participating in 2016 and only the top 16 countries each year qualify for the World Group and play for the prestigious Davis Cup trophy.
