(Madrid) Canada got off to a bad start in the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals in men’s tennis with a loss in both singles matches of their clash against Sweden on Thursday in Madrid.
In the first meeting of the day, Elias Ymer got up after conceding four of the first five games, and dominated Steven Diez 6-4, 6-2 in a group B duel between two ranked players. beyond 170e rank at ATP.
Ymer, 171e world player, kept the pace at the start of the second set by breaking Diez’s serve (264e) from the initial game before consolidating this break in the next game.
Ymer, who faced no break point from the sixth game of the first set, posted another breakage in the fifth game of the second set.
In another singles match, Elias’ younger brother Mikael Ymer exploited his only two breakage chances of the match and defeated veteran Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4.
Ymer, 93e in the world, scored a break in the third game of the first set. In the second inning, Ymer managed the break in the seventh game.
Pospisil, ranked 133e in the world, had eight aces against four, but only created one breakage chance in the entire game.
A double duel will follow.
Canada is participating in this tournament in the absence of its two best players, Montrealer Félix Auger-Aliassime and Ontarian Denis Shapovalov, who have chosen to ignore the event to take care of their bodies after a long season.
In 2019, Canada reached the final round of the Davis Cup Finals but lost to host country Spain.
Sweden are trying to advance to the Davis Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2011.
Canada will complete the group stage on Sunday against Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile in Innsbruck, Austria, the Czech Republic took a 1-0 lead thanks to 21-year-old Tomas Machac’s 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory over French veteran Richard Gasquet. in a Group C match.
The match was played in front of deserted stands due to the coronavirus restrictions currently in place in Austria.
Meanwhile, in Turin, Italy, in a Group D clash, Croatian Borna Gojo defeated Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (5), 7-5.
With contributions from Tales Azzoni of the Associated Press