When the match was on the line, Vasek Pospisil did what he had been doing all week at the Davis Cup Finals.
He came up clutch.
Not one, not two, but three aces in the 10th and final game of the second set helped he and doubles partner Denis Shapovalov earn Canada a spot in the tournament’s semifinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win — 2-1 overall — over Australia on Thursday.
“Vasek’s just a legend for serving three bombs, three aces like it’s nobody’s business,” Shapovalov told Sportsnet’s Arash Madani after the match. “I mean it’s unreal. I was at the net smiling, I didn’t have to do anything that game.”
Pospisil entered the Davis Cup as the No. 150 rank in the world and seemingly a replacement for 19-year-old phenom Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was dealing with an ankle injury earlier in the week.
Auger-Aliassime is now healthy and ready to play, but at this point, why would Canadian captain Frank Dancevic turn to anyone other than Pospisil?
The 29-year-old from Vancouver picked up singles victories over Italy, the United States and on Thursday, a 7-6 (7), 6-4 win over Australia’s John Millman. He’s yet to drop a singles set at this Davis Cup, which comes as a delight to the over 400 Canadian fans in Madrid, who used cowbells and horns to cheer him on.
“It’s hard to put into words. There’s nothing quite like the Davis Cup,” Pospisil told Madani.
“So much fun, you know what I mean? So much fun.”
Following Pospisil’s win over Millman, the stage was set for Shapovalov to close things out in the second singles rubber. But a slew of unforced errors against Alex de Minaur led to a 6-3, 3-6, 5-7 loss and set up the doubles matchup.
It was Canada’s first win over Australia all-time and brought the overall record between the two nations to 9-1.
The win allowed the Canadians reach the tournament’s semifinals for the third time in history and first time since 2013 when they lost to Serbia. They also secured a place in next year’s Davis Cup Finals by being one of the final four teams.
Canada will get a day off on Friday and watch Serbia and Russia in the quarterfinals to see who its opponent in Saturday’s semifinals will be.
Here are some more takeaways from the matches:
Improved doubles communication proves key
You could sense it from the start. Both Pospisil and Shapovalov were locked in and more comfortable with each other in doubles play against Australia’s John Peers and Jordan Thompson.
Entering the week, the Canadian duo had never played together. Their only match came on Monday against Italy and resulted in a loss.
The better communication was evident on a point early in the first set, shortly after they had broken the Australians, where both Pospisil and Shapovalov went for the ball. The veteran Pospisil called off Shapovalov and got them the point.
Canada had to overcome a 3-0 deficit in the second set after an early break of their own. Patience and strong returns were the difference and finally in the ninth game, they broke Australia for a second time before Pospisil’s massive serves to clinch the win.
Both players dropped their rackets and ran over to hug each other in celebration.
“We were just thinking full send, and that’s what we did,” Shapovalov told Madani.
“We just tried to keep our focus, treat it like any other game.”
Pospisil somehow finds way
It wasn’t pretty, but Pospisil found a way to get his singles win.
After a shaky first set where he had 20 unforced errors and three double faults, the Canadian fought back from down two set points in a tiebreak to take the early advantage.
Pospisil had trouble finding his rhythm from the get go and allowed Millman to break him in the third game of the first set. Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt decided to go with Millman instead of No. 30 Nick Kyrgios for the match.
A fairly impressive service game seemed to get Pospisil’s juices flowing as he rallied back to earn a break and get the match on serve three games later.
In what was his fourth tiebreak of the tournament to date, Pospisil returned Millman’s serve well and wasn’t fazed by some long rallies.
Despite being down a pair of set points, he continued to fight and made some nice shots to take the set.
Pospisil improved on his first serve percentage in the second set, bringing it up to 74 per cent while firing six aces.
It was a much different story from the first with a quicker tempo. Millman’s serve was really good, but he struggled to contain some nice saves from Pospisil, including one where he slid across the court to make an impressive shot.
Eventually Pospisil’s ability to return strong off serve proved to be the difference as he earned a crucial break and match point.
First match to Canada! @VasekPospisil outlasts Millman 7-6(7) 6-4 to give Canada the lead.
#DavisCupMadridFinals #byRakuten pic.twitter.com/wEO2uLz1Z9
— Davis Cup by Rakuten Madrid Finals (@DavisCupFinals) November 21, 2019
Too many mistakes cost Shapovalov
The cliche “stats don’t lie” was incredibly true in Shapovalov’s singles match against de Minaur.
Shapovalov finished the match with 51 unforced errors and eight double faults.
His mistakes piled up near the end of the first set, although he still closed it out.
An early break in the second set for de Minaur put Shapovalov on the back foot. De Minaur used his lethal serve throughout the match and was 91 per cent on first serve in the second set.
Shapovalov dug himself into too many holes in the third set, especially on serve where he started to show some frustration. He rallied back from down 0-40 on two occasions, but a third 0-40 deficit proved to be too much and a double fault gave de Minaur the break. The Australian would then serve out the match.
