Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime secured Canada’s ticket to Saturday’s Davis Cup final in Valencia, Spain, when he defeated Serbian Miomir Kecmamovic.
The 13th racket of the ATP needed just over an hour and a quarter of play to defeat his opponent, 33rd in the world, in two sets of 6-3 and 6-4.
Alexis Galarneau and Vasek Pospisil’s doubles match is shown in the video above.
Winner against the first player in the world the day before, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, Auger-Aliassime continued his momentum, showing himself to be dominant with the balls in hand. The 22-year-old athlete had an impressive total of 14 aces and no double faults. He also won 29 of 32 rallies after putting his first serve between the lines. The Quebecer still faced two break points, but saved each of them.
In return of service, “FAA” broke his opponent twice, once per set, thus taking advantage of half of his opportunities.
By virtue of this gain, Canada will travel to Malaga, still in Spain, at the end of November, to play in the final of the competition.
Diallo can’t do anything against Djere
In his first career match for Canada at the Davis Cup earlier in the day, Quebecer Gabriel Diallo could only see the power of Serbian Laslo Djere, who triumphed in two sets of 6-2 and 6- 2.
The man who won his first tournament on the ATP Challenger circuit, in Granby, in August, was unable to preserve his service adequately, he who won only 16 of 30 rallies when he put his first ball into play. The 334th player in the world even had his serve stolen four times, twice per set.
In return, Diallo offered himself three chances to take his opponent’s serve, but did not take advantage of any of his chances. Djere, 66th racket in the ATP, was also dominant with the balls in hand, with an 80% success percentage in a first-ball situation, winning 84% of rallies when his first ball was between the lines.
The Canadians will have one last duel to play, in doubles, later in the day. If this duel has no importance regarding the participation or not of Canada in the final, it could however have an importance on the final classification in Group B. A victory would ensure the representatives of the maple leaf of the first row.