Just as he had to do last Thursday against Oscar Otte and Germany, Félix Auger-Aliassime came to the rescue of Denis Shapovalov and Canada, this time in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup Finals on Saturday against Italy.
Just under two hours after Shapovalov lost a marathon match to Lorenzo Sonego, the 22-year-old Montrealer delivered another top performance.
Once again supported by hard-hitting serves that allowed him to score 12 aces, Auger-Aliassime defeated Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, all in 84 minutes, in the second singles match of the daytime.
Auger-Aliassime needed only two breaks, the first in the sixth game of the opening set and the second in the ninth game of the second set, to claim a second singles victory this week in the Spanish city of Malaga .
As so often happened to him during his happy 16-game winning streak in October, Auger-Aliassime didn’t concede a break chance to his opponent.
After his second break which gave him the chance to serve for the game with a 5-4 lead, Auger-Aliassime lost the first two points of the 10th game. He responded by winning the next four, the last using of a serve that Musetti barely touched.
With his victory, Auger-Aliassime forced a doubles duel to determine which country will join Australia in the grand final on Sunday.
In principle, Canada was to delegate Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil for this doubles match, against Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini.
Perhaps because Shapovalov had spent 3h 14 minutes on the court against Sonego and needed lower back treatment between the third and fourth games of the third set, captain Frank Dancevic delegated Auger-Aliassime to play the doubles match with Pospisil.
Italy also made a change to their tandem, replacing Bolelli with Matteo Berrettini.
Shapovalov and Pospisil teamed up on Thursday to erase a one-set deficit to zero and win the deciding double against Germany, securing Canada’s spot in the semifinals.
A cannon start
In the first of two singles matches of the day, Shapovalov lost in three sets 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-4.
In the decisive set, Shapovalov committed seven double faults including three in the 10th game. His last double fault gave victory to Sonego.
Shapovalov had enjoyed a spectacular start to the match, earning the first nine points, including the first four on Sonego’s serve.
Sonego, however, was not let down. He protected his serve in the third game and broke Shapovalov’s one game later.
Afterwards, both players won their serves until a tiebreaker was held which Sonego won 7-4 thanks to four mini-breaks, the last two acquired consecutively to close the set in 1 hour. 10 minutes.
Both players started the second set by dominating on their serve. This trend continued until the 10th game when Sonego lost the first three points on his serve, putting him ahead of just as many set points. He saved them all, plus two more in the same game, before making it 5-5.
Shapovalov and Sonego had to play a second break and with the Italian holding a 5-4 lead, he conceded the next three points, including two on his serve, allowing the Canadian to tie the match at one set each. side.