OOSTEND, Belgium – Adil Shamasdin is the next man up for Canada’s Davis Cup team.
The 33-year-old right-hander will play the Saturday doubles match with Daniel Nestor in Belgium this weekend, Sportsnet has learned. Shamasdin will fill in for Vasek Pospisil, who is missing the tie because of a right wrist injury.
While Canada will have Frank Dancevic and Filip Peliwo as its singles players for Friday and Sunday, Shamasdin is the logical fill in as the doubles option. He has been an exclusive doubles player on tour since 2009, shortly after turning pro, and peaked at No. 55 in the world in doubles earlier this year after winning a clay-court title in Morocco in April.
The Belgians are hosting the Davis Cup on clay this week.
Shamasdin, a Toronto native who grew up in Pickering, Ont., has been a fixture on Canada’s Davis Cup team over the past four years as a hitting partner with Nestor and Pospisil. He has qualified for the main draws in each of the three grand slam doubles events this year.
Shamasdin and Nestor practised together on Monday morning during a rain-soaked workout at the Sportpark Tennis Middelkerke in Oostend, a sea-side town about an hour from Brussels.
Canada is shorthanded coming into the Davis Cup World Group quarter-final, missing both Pospisil and Milos Raonic (foot injury).
Belgium’s top singles player is David Goffin, the world No. 14. Steve Darcis, who famously beat Rafael Nadal in the first round of Wimbledon in 2013, is the host nation’s No. 2-ranked singles option (76th on tour).