Davis Cup: Australia beaten, Canada makes history

Success has already come, without even having to wait for the doubles challenge.

The Davis Cup goes to Canada, which, after eliminating Italy from the competition, gets the better of Australia and for the first time in its history wins the tournament. For the North Americans, the success of Felix Auger-Aliassime in two sets over Alex De Minaur was decisive, after Denis Shapovalov had done the same with Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Auger-Aliassime prevailed with scores of 6-3, 6-4, ruling De Minaur in one hour and 42 minutes. Decisive in the first set was the spurt at 3-3, after six decidedly balanced games. At that point the Canadian makes no more mistakes, gets the break for 5-3 and does not stop anymore. He took even less time in the second set, snatching service from his rival as early as the third game and never being caught up again.

Even easier is Shapovalov’s victory, taking an hour and a half to close out the contest at 6-2, 6-4. The first set lasts just over 30 minutes, with the Canadian even taking a 4-0 lead before conceding two games to his rival. He suffers relatively more in the next set, with break in his favor making it 2-1, three break points canceled for Kokkinakis in the next game, and then break and counterbreak in the seventh and eighth games. But the victory never appears in question.