SYDNEY, January 7, 2020 (by Sharada Rajagopalan)
The quarter-final spots have started to fill in at the ATP Cup. Tuesday’s results saw one more team, Russia, make it to the knock-out stages of the event. The day’s morning session had plenty of action even otherwise, with teams doing their best to try and last longer in the tournament.
Brisbane
Denis Shapovalov was the hero of the day for Canada in their Group F match against Germany. The North American team, riding on Shapovalov’s efforts, won the tie 2-1 to keep their quarter-final hopes alive in the contest.
The left-hander first defeated Alexander Zverev, whose haplessness and haphazardness trickled into his final singles rubber. The World No. 14 won in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 10 minutes. The youngster also ended the round-robin stage of the event with a 2-1 record in singles.
“I’m really happy to get the win and hopefully we can go through. I feel like we’re definitely one of the top teams, and I feel like we definitely deserve to go to Sydney. Hopefully, if we do get that chance, we can do some really big damage,” Shapovalov said.
Shapovalov backed this win by teaming with Felix Auger-Aliassime in doubles and to defeat the 2019 French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies 6-3, 7-6(4).
Earlier, to start the day, Canada trailed their opponents after Jan-Lennard Struff took down Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and 15 minutes.
🇨🇦 #TeamCanada take the doubles and the tie!
A hard-fought tiebreak seals it for the young Canadians.#ATPCup | #Brisbane | #GERCAN pic.twitter.com/XgCCIRuCTj
— ATPCup (@ATPCup) January 7, 2020
Sydney
In Group C, Great Britain made it 3-0 against Moldova. In order to top the group and advance to the quarter-finals, Britain now need Belgium to defeat Bulgaria with a 2-1 margin.
Cameron Norrie gave Britain a 1-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Alexander Cozbinov in an hour and 11 minutes. In the second singles rubber, the score-line was duplicated as Dan Evans downed the Moldovan top-ranked player Radu Albot in an hour and 12 minutes.
Finally, Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury wrapped up a 6-2, 6-3 win over Albot and Cozbinov.
Perth
Russia kept it simple with Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev winning their respective singles rubber to help the team reach the quarter-finals. In their Group D match against Norway, Russia clinched their last round-robin tie, 3-0.
Khachanov beat Viktor Durasovic to give Russia the lead. Medvedev defeated Casper Ruud 6-3, 7-6(6) in one hour and 34 minutes.
In the doubles rubber, Teymuraz Gabashvili and Konstantin Kravchuk defeated Ruud and Durasovic 7-6(4), 6-4.
Russia is the third team behind Australia and Serbia to make it to the quarter-finals.
Have you heard?
🇷🇺 #TeamRussia are through to the #ATPCup Final 8️⃣ in #Sydney! pic.twitter.com/8in5dhoEXG
— ATPCup (@ATPCup) January 7, 2020
