Canada dropped out of Davis Cup tennis tournament after losing to Kazakhstan 3-0 | National sports

MADRID – There won’t be a long playoff series for Canada in this year’s Davis Cup final.

The Canadians dropped out of the men’s international tennis tournament on Sunday after losing their second-round draw to Kazakhstan 3-0.

Canada, which was second in the Davis Cup the last time the event took place in 2019, will miss Madrid without winning the match. The Canadians opened for Sweden with a 3-0 loss on Friday.

Canada lacked two top players, 11th in the world Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal and 14th Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Decided to skip the event after a long season.

Shapovalov was a major player in the Canadian 2019 race, which ended in a 2-0 loss to Rafael Nadal and host Spain in the championship draw.

This year’s team from Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil – who was also a major factor in Canada’s success in the last Davis Cup – from Brayden Schnur Pickering, Ont., Steven Diez from Toronto and Peter Polansky from Thornhill, Ont., Made a brave effort but failed. to get the results needed to move forward.

“Overall, I thought the guys were playing their hearts out this week,” Canadian captain Frank Dancevic said. “They did their best to try to get us through.

“We knew we had to win 3-0 today to get a chance, and it was a really, really hard task. But in the end, we’ll keep our heads up, regroup, evaluate a few things this week, and move on.”

Mikhail Kukushkin started Kazakhstan strongly on Sunday, beating Schnur 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5.

Schnur made his strong pass and fired eight aces at Kukushkin. However, Kukushkin also proved more opportunistic when he exchanged four of his nine break point opportunities. Schnur broke Kukushkin only twice on six occasions.

“The first installment, of course, I don’t think I played well,” Schnur said. “But it takes a while to get used to his ball, everything is pretty much like a bottom wheel on a wooden field that bounces already low and very slowly. So I haven’t regretted the first batch, it only took me a short time to find my career. “

Alexander Bublik reached the draw and sent Kazakhstan to the semifinals, beating Pospisil 6-2, 7-6 (6). Bublik had 14 aces in the match and saved the only break point he faced and broke Pospisil twice in nine chances.

Kazakhstan competed in the sweep when Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov defeated Polansky and Schnur 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-1 in a doubles match.

Kazakhstan ranked at the top of Group B, taking five of the six rubbers, beating Sweden and Canada. It will face the best second-placed team that will survive six blocks at the end of the first round.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 28, 2021.

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