Canada's Vasek Pospisil in action against Sweden's Leo Borg during their Davis Cup group stage tennis match at the Unipol Arena, Bologna, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 14. 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP
BOLOGNA, Italy – Canada extended its undefeated run in the group stage of Davis Cup finals with a second win in as many days Thursday.
Vasek Pospisil and Gabriel Diallo won singles matches followed by a doubles victory by Pospisil and Alexis Galarneau to sweep Sweden.
Defending champion Canada opened with a 3-0 win Wednesday over host Italy in Bologna.
“We go match by match and to go three-zero a second day is amazing for us,” Canadian captain Frank Dancevic said.
“It’s huge for our team. So many emotions today in the matches. The guys (played) their hearts out. An incredible day by the boys.”
The Canadians cap the 16-country group round Saturday versus Chile.
The top two countries in each of the four groups advance to November’s final eight in Malaga, Spain.
Canada defeated Australia in last year’s final to win the biggest team event in men’s tennis for the first time.
Both countries earned byes to the group stage of this year’s finals.
Pospisil’s 25 service aces spurred the 33-year-old from Vernon, B.C., to a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-2 victory over Leo Borg, the son of tennis great Bjorn Borg, to start Thursday’s tie.
Montreal’s Diallo assured Canada the win over Sweden with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Elias Ymer.
“Vasek led the way with an unbelievable win,” Diallo said. “He faced adversity during his match, but showed some great mental resilience.
“That freed me up to play my game, to play aggressive, and take it to my opponent. I’m happy that I was able to get it done.”
Diallo, 21, has yet to face a break point in Bologna.
Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Pospisil finished out the day with a 7-6(9), 7-6(3) victory over Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson.
“The last couple days we’ve played amazing tennis,” Pospisil said.
“We’re great competitors. We get on the court and we hate losing or we love winning. We don’t go down without a fight and we showed that the last couple days too.”
He took a break from tennis for more than two months, between February and April, to recover from injuries.
Pospisil hit 26 forehand winners to Borg’s nine at Unipol Arena.
“I haven’t played a lot of matches this year,” Pospisil said post-match.
“This was one of the few healthy matches I’ve played. The U.S. Open was the first time I played a match with no pain this year.
“After a long break, it felt great to be able to play at a really good level.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2023.
