Auger-Aliassime claims victory for team Canada at the Davis Cup

Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced Canada to the verge of qualification in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage on Thursday in Manchester.

The 24-year-old, who was part of the team that beat Australia in the Davis Cup Finals title match in 2022, defeated Otto Virtanen 6-2, 6-3 to give the defending champion an insurmountable 2-0 lead over Finland in Group D.

After defeating Argentina 2-1 in their first match, Canada went into their second match in Manchester with confidence. After Denis Shapovalov overcame Eero Vasa 7-6(2), 6-2 in the opening match of the day, Auger-Aliassime moved quickly to give his country a second point. The top two seeds in Group D advance to the Final 8 in Malaga in November.

During his 73-minute victory, Auger-Aliassime demonstrated his dominance on serve, saving all three break points that he encountered and winning 86% (32/37) of the points with his opening serve. As of right now, Auger-Aliassime’s record in Davis Cup singles matches is 8-3. On Sunday, he will play Great Britain’s Jack Draper in Canada’s last Group D game. Great Britain overcame Finland 2-1 in its inaugural encounter.

Shapovalov defeated Vasa in straight sets earlier to build on his victory against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo. The guy who was ranked No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings has found his form again in Manchester after losing in the first round of the US Open and Montreal last month.

Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov will team against Wimbledon champion Harri Heliovaara and Virtanen in the doubles rubber.

In Group C, Germany backed up its opening 3-0 win against Slovakia with a 3-0 victory against Chile on Thursday.

Maximilian Marterer, Yannick Hanfmann, Tim Puetz, and Kevin Krawietz all won in straight sets, putting the former champion ahead of the US, Slovakia, and Chile in the standings.

In ninety minutes, Hanfmann defeated Tabilo 7-5 6-3, displaying his most fluid play. Marterer’s third career Davis Cup singles victory sealed the match after he had defeated Tomas Barrios Vera 6-1 6-3 in an eighty-minute match earlier.