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 – Vasek Pospisil and Gabriel Diallo won their Davis Cup singles matches Thursday to give defending champion Canada a win over Sweden.
Pospisil’s 25 service aces spurred the Canadian to a 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-2 victory over Leo Borg, followed by Diallo’s 6-4, 6-3 win over Elias Ymer in Bologna.
Canada opened the 16-country group stage of finals with a 3-0 win over host Italy on Wednesday. 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. The top two in each group advance to November’s final eight in Malaga, Spain.
Pospisil and Alexis Galarneau, of Laval, Que., were set to team up for a later doubles match Thursday against the Swedes.
The 33-year-old Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., took a break from tennis of over two months between February and April to heal injuries. He hit 26 forehand winners to Borg’s nine Thursday.
“Very pleased,” Pospisil said post-match at Unipol Arena. “I haven’t played a lot of matches this year.
“This was a big win for us and for me. 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. I felt Leo was playing great tennis.”
Montreal’s Diallo held serve through his match against Ymer, who committed 25 errors under pressure from the Canadian.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2023.
