Canada loses 3-0 to Belgium in Davis Cup quarters

The odds were long for a Canadian side missing their top two players in Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic and the Belgians made sure to exploit Canada's weakened state.

OSTEND, Belgium — Canada’s Davis Cup run in over.

Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans and Kimmer Coppejans downed Daniel Nestor and Adil Shamasdin 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in doubles action on Saturday to take the best-of-five tie 3-0.


"We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities," said Shamasdin, who was making his Davis Cup debut. "We had our chances. Their level got better as the match went on and they were feeding off the crowd’s energy. We couldn’t get enough balls in play. Our standard is better than that and we didn’t come with the goods today."

The match took 2 1/2 hours and was played outdoors on clay.

The Canadians entered the day already down 2-0 after a pair of singles losses on Friday.

Nestor and Shamasdin, both Toronto natives, lost the first set, but used three consecutive breaks and a strong service game to even the match in the second.

The Belgians were quick to end any momentum Canada generated through the next two sets. Nestor double faulted on break point serving at 2-1 in the fourth set and that was the final advantage Belgium needed to advance.

"I think the big difference today was returns," said Nestor, who was playing in his record 49th Davis Cup tie for Canada.

"They hit some really quality returns. We’d win points if we hit great serves but if we didn’t start the point strong their return game was better than ours. They hit some lucky shots too. But overall that was the difference."

The Canadians were playing without stars Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil, who are both nursing injuries.

There are still two singles matches left to play on Sunday. World No. 14 David Goffin plays Frank Dancevic, of Niagara Falls, Ont., while Vancouver’s Filip Peliwo faces Steve Darcis in best-of-three set matches.

Canada will play in its fifth consecutive World Group at next year’s Davis Cup. The Canadians’ first round opponent will be determined at the official draw in September after the World Group playoff ties have finished.

Belgium will play Argentina in its first Davis Cup semifinals appearance since 1999.

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.