VANCOUVER, B.C. – Bring on the semi-final.
On Sunday, Canada advanced from the Davis Cup World Group quarter-final for the first time ever by defeating Italy 3-1 in the best-of-five tie.
Milos Raonic clinched the tie with the decisive victory against Andreas Seppi in the fourth rubber, winning 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 at the University of British Columbia’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
The win brings Raonic’s Davis Cup record to 12-4, and 10-3 in singles play. Here at UBC, he’s now 5-0 in singles play on the hard court – the surface, which Seppi described as something similar to “ice,” helped the No. 16 player to a remarkable 35 aces to Seppi’s 11.
But after getting off to a strong start by winning two sets to jump into an early lead, Seppi rebounded in the third set after appearing to get a grip on Raonic’s scorching serve.
“I think in the beginning I was just sort of effortlessly getting away from him,” Raonic said following the tie. “He was always going the wrong way and so even sometimes I wasn’t always hitting the best serve, but he felt like he had to guess.
“I think in the second set, the final game, I don’t think I did do too much wrong. The serves I missed I think I went for all of them – and went over 190 [kilometres an hour] on all of them. I didn’t shy away from going for those serves, but I think it gave him more belief on my service games.
“He wasn’t panicking as much on my service games. He was just playing within himself a little bit more and that’s why I think he had better looks at my service games.”
Raonic bounced back after losing the third set to Seppi, and claimed the fourth set to wrap up the match, and the tie.
“I felt that he still felt the pressure,” Raonic said of Seppi. “Even that one game in the third set that he got close, he was stretching out and hit three forehand winners.
“That’s why I kept going back there because I wanted to show him I didn’t really feel the fear that he could keep doing that.”
The Thornhill, Ont., native said he was driven on by the crowd during tough moments, and also took inspiration from Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil’s four-and-a-half hour doubles victory on Saturday over Daniele Bracciali and Fabio Fognini.
“It was exciting in the sense that it gave a big lift to everybody,” Raonic said. “The tie wasn’t over but the kind of celebration that was put on by the guys was – it was a big sigh of pride, pretty much. Everybody was so happy with that and it was so relieved to get that through, but also very proud.”
Canada is now set to face Serbia, which defeated the United States 3-1 in Boise, Idaho this weekend. That semi-final tie will take place in Serbia this September, making it Canada’s first away series after playing the opening round and the quarter-final World Group ties against Spain and Italy at UBC.
“Winning on the road is so difficult,” captain Martin Laurendeau said on Sunday. “So when you do play at home you got to win. We won – basically all four guys won a point. We have Pospisil and Raonic who are 22-years-old and you look at the average age of the top 100 and the average age of the top players in the world, and it’s probably pushing 27, 28, so there’s a lot of good years ahead.
“It’s been a long road, but what we’re going through right now is great. I’m really proud of the guys for being able to perform under pressure and grabbing their opportunities when they’re in front of them.”
Super fit Pospisil could have played
It didn’t end up being relevant, but Vancouver’s Pospisil was ready to take on Fabio Fognini in a fifth rubber despite playing five-set matches on both Friday and Saturday had it been required.
Laurendeau said the medical staff was astounded at the 22-year-old’s ability to recover, and he would have likely played ahead of 25-year-old Jesse Levine, who many had speculated would come in to replace him.
“Vasek was 98 per cent fit to play this match today, and that’s after 10 hours of tennis,” Laurendeau said. “This guy is a workhorse and his resiliency is incredible. I mean our physio couldn’t believe how his body was ready to go today.”