The Canadian duo of Denis Shapovalov and Felix-Auger Aliassime has got team Canada off to a dream start at the ATP Cup with a comprehensive win over Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Greece without dropping a set.
Kicking off the brand new event in Brisbane, it was 19-year-old Auger-Aliassime who scored his team their first point. Easing to a 6-1, 6-3, win over world No.487 Michail Pervolarakis in just over an hour. Auger-Aliassime was particularly impressive behind his first serve where he dropped only four points and didn’t face a break point throughout.
“Truly feels good to be back on the court,” Auger-Aliassime told atpcup.com. “I didn’t know the opponent, also, so that’s a factor that is always challenging when you’re a player, and so I tried to focus on what I had to do. But I was happy that overall in the match I had a great first set, couldn’t ask any better, and I was able to be solid in the second. So overall very happy to be back.”
The win set up Canadian No.1 Shapovalov in a strong position heading into his crucial clash with ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas. In a match of fine margins there was no breaks of serve for either player with Shapovalov saving all three of the break points he faced. Nevertheless, he managed to prevail 7-6(6), 7-6(4). Sealing victory at the expense of a Tsitsipas double fault.
“It’s definitely a huge win for me,” Shapovalov said in an on-court interview. “Obviously, he had an unbelievable end to the season and he’s definitely one of the top players in the world right now. He’s got a great game.
“So to beat a guy like this in the first match of the year, it’s really special for me. It means a lot. “I think today it was just a couple points here and there, just tried to keep playing my game, keep playing every single point and wait for my chances and I just think that I took advantage really well in the tie-breaks.”
Shapovalov now extends his winning head-to-head record against the world No.6 to 3-1. He inflicted further frustration on Tsitsipas when he and Auger-Aliassime eased to a straightforward doubles win to seal the tie 3-0 in their favour.
Following the tie, Tsitsipas admitted that he was suffering from ‘irritation’ with both his arm and wrist. However, he refused to link it to his latest loss and downplayed the idea it is an injury issue.
“Today I woke up a bit sore in my arm and I was being a little bit stressed before the match because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to serve, but I served OK, pretty good.” Tsitsipas said during his press conference.
Canada’s next clash will be against home favourite Australia on Sunday. Meanwhile, Greece will face Germany on the same day.
