Davis Cup: Felix Auger-Aliassime shines to help Canada to a championship duel with Australia
Canada booked a championship clash with Australia after securing a 2-1 victory over Italy in the semifinal round of the Davis Cup at the Martin Carpena Arena in Málaga, Spain, on November 26
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The ultimate drama was saved for the end though with Auger-Aliassime seemingly cast as the protagonistItaly started the match positively as Lorenzo Sonego secured a 7-6(4), 6-7(5), and 6-4 victory over Denis Shapovalov of Canada in the opening round men's singles match.
In the second round, Felix Auger-Aliassime walked onto the court and defeated Lorenzo Musetti in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to force the match into a decider.
The Canadian captain Frank Dancevic decided to make a late change, pairing up Felix Auger-Aliassime with Vasek Pospisil. The Italian duo clashed with Matteo Berrettini and Fabio Fognini in the tie's final men's doubles round.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🎾 WILD CARDS 🎾<br><br>Italy and Spain will join 2022 finalists Australia and Canada in the 2023 Finals Group Stage 💫<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DavisCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DavisCup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/byRakuten?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#byRakuten</a> <a href="https://t.co/zEylJsi7ef">pic.twitter.com/zEylJsi7ef</a></p>— Davis Cup (@DavisCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavisCup/status/1596808198832652288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Both sets of the match were forced into a decider, but the Canadian pairing broke their Italian opponents three times to secure a 7-6(2), 7-5 win to advance to the championship match.
After the victory, Felix Auger-Aliassime said, "I feel like the whole team connected around this idea, and there was no ego in the wrong place. Everybody has the clear idea of the main goal, which is lifting the cup tomorrow."
The Canadian side last advanced to the final of the Davis Cup in 2019. However, they failed to win the tournament after Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Denis Shapovalov fell to Roberto Bautista Agut and Rafael Nadal of Spain.
After the victory, the captain of the Canadian side Frank Dancevic said, "Making the finals is always an amazing feeling, and I believe in this team. We've done it before; we're here again. I believe we can win this, so we're going to go after it tomorrow and give it all we've got."
Canada is aiming to win their first-ever Davis Cup trophy. They will lock horns with Australia in the championship match of the Davis Cup on November 27.
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