Denis Shapovalov as soon as once more did his job to present Staff Canada the lead on the 2024 Davis Cup Finals group stage in Manchester, defeating Eero Vasa in straight units on Thursday to attain the opening level of their second round-robin tie in opposition to Finland.
Fast begins in each units put the wind on the Canadian’s again, though Vasa didn’t go away quietly. Shapovalov needed to maintain his by no means to maintain the highly effective Finn at bay and provides Canada the 1-0 lead with a 7-6(2), 6-2, win.
Aside from one sport early within the first set, it was a superb serving efficiency from Shapovalov, who solely misplaced 10 factors on serve in the entire match, simply two within the second set. The Canadian received 84 per cent of his first serve factors and solely confronted two break factors within the match. He additionally had 16 winners to his opponent’s seven, whereas Vasa threw in 40 unforced errors.
Shapovalov got here charging out of the gate, successful 12 of the primary 13 factors together with all eight on his serve of which 5 had been unreturned serves. Vasa was struggling to search out his vary early and a double fault adopted by a forehand effectively lengthy gave away an early break.
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As soon as the Finn settled in, he was in a position to flip the momentum round rapidly. He used his large first serve to begin holding and Shapovalov performed a sloppy sport at 3-1, double-faulting to present the break again. The 2 remained even for the remainder of the set, though Vasa did have to save lots of a set level on his serve at 4-5, delivering an ace.
Within the tiebreak, Shapovalov once more raced out to a 3-0 lead, courtesy of consecutive errors by Vasa on his personal serve, and this time he didn’t let his early benefit slip away. He led the breaker wire to wire and took the opening set.
Similar to the primary, Shapovalov got here out flying to begin the second set whereas Vasa regarded sluggish. The Canadian broke to like within the opening sport, courtesy of a Vasa double fault, a then backed it up with a maintain to like for a 2-0 lead.
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There was no letdown within the second set. Shapovalov was in full move, forcing Vasa to run laps behind the baseline along with his pinpoint groundstrokes. The serve was untouchable because the Canadian received his first 12 factors in a row, three love holds, and added a second break for good measure on his approach to victory.
Félix Auger-Aliassime now has an opportunity to clinch the tie and take a stranglehold on a spot in November’s Davis Cup Remaining 8 within the second singles match in opposition to Otto Virtanen. Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime are additionally scheduled to play the doubles.
