MADRID — Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil kept rolling on Monday, notching a pair of upsets to lead Canada to a win over Italy on the opening day of the inaugural Davis Cup Finals.
Shapovalov, ranked 15th in the world, gave Canada an insurmountable 2-0 lead when he beat world No. 8 Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5) in a match that lasted 2 hours 51 minutes.
Vancouver’s Pospisil and Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ont., were scheduled to team up in doubles to meet Berrettini and Fabio Fognini later Monday in the finale of the best-of-three tie.
Italy made a late change to use their top two players in doubles instead of Simone Bolelli and Lorenzo Sonego in a bid to record a valuable match win in the new Davis Cup format.
The winners of each of the six three-team groups and the next two best teams advance to quarterfinals.
Earlier Monday, Pospisil recorded the biggest upset of the day.
Pospisil, a late replacement for Felix Auger-Aliassime (recovering from an ankle injury), beat Italy’s Fabio Fognini 7-6 (5), 7-5.
Ranked 150th in the world after missing half the season while recovering from back surgery, Pospisil was a big underdog against world No. 12 Fognini.
Shapovalov and Pospisil both came into the Davis Cup Finals with momentum.
Pospisil, whose ranking tumbled while missing the first half of the year following back surgery, won a pair of Challengers in the U.S., this fall. That came after the former world No. 25 made a run to the round of 16 at the Shanghai Masters and notched first-round upset of then-No. 9 Karen Khachanov of Russia at the U.S. Open.
Shapovalov, 20, captured his first career ATP Tour title at the Stockholm Open last month before reaching the final at the Paris Masters.
Shapovalov fought off three set points in the first set against Berrettini, a semifinalist at this year’s U.S. Open.
The Canadian seemed to enjoy playing in front of boisterous Italian fans, putting a hand up to his ear at one point to encourage noise.
It was Shapovalov’s fourth career win against a top-10 opponent, with three coming this year.
Pospisil, 29, improved to 18-17 in Davis Cup play.
Tennis Canada says Auger-Aliassime could return later this week. The world No. 21 was in the stands for the matches on Monday.
Canada is without world No. 31 Milos Raonic (back).
It is the first year of the Davis Cup Finals, a week-long event in a neutral venue.
The old format had the competition run over several weekends during a full-year cycle. Previously, ties were best-of-five contests played at the home of one of the competing teams.
Canada, the United States and Italy are in Group F.
Canada faces the U.S., on Tuesday.
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November 19, 2019 at 12:28AM
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