TORONTO, September 17, 2018 (Press Release)
By winning his second match of the weekend in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4, Milos Raonic propelled Canada to a 3-1 victory over the Netherlands in the World Group play-offs. This means that Canada will be one of twelve seeds for the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Qualifying Round next February to determine who will contest the Davis Cup Finals in November of 2019.
The Dutch team made a change to their lineup one hour before the match, replacing Robin Haase, who is dealing with a knee injury, with world no. 224 Scott Griekspoor, who played in the first Davis Cup match of his career. The 27-year-old didn’t seem intimidated by the occasion in the first set, pushing Raonic to a tiebreak where just one mini break made the difference and allowed the Canadian to take the lead. The world no. 20 lifted his level of play in the second and third sets to earn his 18th Davis Cup and improve his record to 12-1 in matches played on Canadian soil. This marks the sixth time in Raonic’s career that he has captured the winning point in a tie for Canada.
CANADA WINS THE TIE! 🇨🇦
Milos Raonic defeats Scott Griekspoor of the Netherlands 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-4 to secure Canada’s place in #DavisCup world group qualifying next year! pic.twitter.com/pSpX0G2Fxo
— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) 16. September 2018
“I thought he played well. He didn’t have much to lose but there is also the stress of playing Davis Cup for the first time and being in a position where he needed to win to keep his team alive. He stepped up and played with a lot of courage. On my end, it was good to have played that match on Friday to feel the court and so I felt even more comfortable today. There was a lot on the line, that sort of excites me, gets me going and brings out some good tennis out of me,” Raonic said after the match.
“We played a tough team this weekend, they weren’t easy customers, but we had our top players on this team these guys are champions; they are used to playing on big stages and under pressure in these situations. The more we can have these players playing for us, the further we can get and the better chances we have of winning Davis Cup,” said Canadian captain Frank Dancevic.
The Canadian squad will learn the identity of their next opponent on September 26. By winning this World Group play-off tie against the Netherlands, Canada will be one of twelve seeds in next February’s Qualifying Round which will decided which teams will contest the Davis Cup Finals in November of 2019.
