By Ricky Dimon
Heading into Tuesday’s ATP Cup round-robin tie against Germany, Canada needed a ton of things to go right in order to reach the quarterfinals.
A ton.
It had to beat the Germans.
Spain had to beat Japan 3-0.
Russia head to beat Norway.
The France vs. South Africa tie had to end 2-1 either way, not 3-0.
Poland had to beat Austria.
Croatia had to either beat Argentina or lose 3-0.
The Canadians got all of it.
After Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime kept Team Canada alive with a decisive doubles victory over Germans, they sat back and watched everything else unfold on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Spain erased Japan 3-0. Russia rolled over Norway. France and South Africa split their two singles rubbers, with Kevin Anderson staging an amazing comeback to beat Benoit Paire after Lloyd Harris had fallen to Gilles Simon. Poland upset Austria behind Hubert Hurkacz (defeated Dominic Thiem) and Kacper Zuk (defeated Dennis Novak). Argentina won a doubles match against the Croatians, who would have advanced and knocked Canada out if they had emerged victorious (they lost 3-0 instead of 2-1).
Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime, and company were obviously keeping a close eye on Argentina vs. Croatia, as the ATP posted a video on Twitter of the Canadians celebrating in their hotel room while watching the match.
The outcome of those results is a finalized ATP Cup quarterfinal draw as follows:
Serbia vs. Canada
Argentina vs. Russia
Great Britain vs. Australia
Belgium vs. Spain
Perhaps not surprisingly, seven of the eight quarterfinalists are the exact same from the 2019 Davis Cup Finals that took place less than two months ago. Only Belgium is a newcomer, replacing Germany.
Which kind of begs the question: what is the point of having two team competitions–using almost the exact same format–in the span of two months?
But for now, that’s neither here nor there. For now, it’s on to Sydney!
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.
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