THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Frederic Niemeyer and Peter Polansky gave Canada a leg up in a Davis Cup qualifying tie against Mexico with straight-set wins in their singles matches Friday.
Polansky, from Thornhill, Ont., swept Bruno Echagarary 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 for his first career Davis Cup victory after Niemeyer of Sherbrooke, Que., downed Santiago Gonzalez 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (1) at the Calgary Corral.
The winner of this best-of-five Americas Zone Group 1 tie advances to the second round against host Chile in April. The victor in Chile moves onto a World Group playoff.
Of the 126 countries entered in Davis Cup in 2008, only 16 make it to the World Group.
Niemeyer and Toronto’s Daniel Nestor will try and close out the win for Canada in Saturday’s doubles match against Bruno Rodriguez and Cesar Ramirez. The reverse singles matches are scheduled for Sunday.
Polansky, with just two previous Davis Cup matches in his career, was called up when top Canadian singles player Frank Dancevic — the world No. 84 — pulled out Thursday with a back injury.
Polansky is coming off his first year as a pro and is ranked 355th in the world. The 19-year-old wasn’t much older than the youngsters hitting each other with their inflatable Thunderstix in the Corral stands.
But Polansky played with poise and patience against the 24-year-old Echagaray. The eight-year pro and Mexico’s top-ranked singles player at No. 172 bounced his racket off the court in disgust midway through the match after several unforced errors.
The two traded breaks in the opening set before Polansky went up a break in the fourth game en route to a 6-3 win. He broke Echagarary in the fifth game to serve for the second set and broke him twice in the third for 2-1 and 5-2 leads.
"I had a couple of points to win the first game and I let them slip away, (but) the games after that I went after him and was able to break him," Polansky said. "My job is done for now."
Canada is undefeated in Davis Cup qualifying at the Corral in four previous stops here. Niemeyer kickstarted Canada’s bid for a fifth victory with his win over Gonzalez.
The 31-year-old Davis Cup veteran broke the 24-year-old Mexican in the third game of the opening two sets and in the fifth game of the third to serve for the match. Gonzalez broke back to force a tiebreaker, which Niemeyer won handily.
Niemeyer is ranked No. 161 in the world. He was able to serve himself out of trouble on the quick Taraflex surface against No. 482 Gonzalez.
"The surface suits me well and I’ve always played well in Davis Cup because our preparation is so good," Niemeyer. "We’ve got a coaching staff and physio. It shows."
The Canadian team arrived in Calgary almost a week ahead of Friday’s matches to train and adjust to the altitude.
"With all the preparation, a lot of times it carries on for a couple weeks after," Niemeyer said. "I play some of my best tennis after Davis Cup. It’s good to have that support."
.Niemeyer and Nestor are a perfect 9-0 in Davis Cup doubles. Niemeyer didn’t play a lot of doubles last year because he concentrated on improving his singles ranking.
But if he’s rusty, Niemeyer is comforted by the experience of Nestor, an Olympic gold medallist and former world No. 1 in doubles.
"Daniel, for me, is one of the top three guys in the world still," Niemeyer said. "I definitely want to play a little more doubles with my (singles) ranking up this year. It’s something I enjoy, especially with Daniel when I have to cover a quarter of the court."