|
The 29-year-old is languishing at 150 in the
world after back surgery to fix a herniated disc sidelined him
for six months this year, but he has lit up La Caja Magica this
week with a series of stunning displays.
He was the difference again on Thursday, beating 48th-ranked
John Millman 7-6(7) 6-4 in the opening singles, before teaming
up with Denis Shapovalov later to win the deciding doubles
rubber against Jordan Thompson and John Peers 6-4 6-4.
Australian hopes were not helped when Nick Kyrgios, impressive
in their group wins over Colombia and Belgium, was surprisingly
not named to play against the Canadians.
Team captain Lleyton Hewitt later clarified Kyrgios was forced
out by a collarbone injury.
Pospisil has won all three of his singles matches without
dropping a set. He beat 12-ranked Italian Fabio Fognini in
Canada's opening group match and then took down 22-year-old
American giant Reilly Opelka, ranked 36, on Tuesday.
Thankfully there were a few hundred Canadian fans inside the
sparsely populated 12,500-seat centre court at the Madrid venue
that is hosting the first edition of the revamped Davis Cup.
Canada will face Serbia or Russia on Saturday in what will be
only their third semi-final in the competition.
"The sky's the limit. We don't know, with a little luck on our
side, anything can happen going into Saturday into the semis,"
Canada captain Frank Dancevic told reporters.
"It's been a great run so far."
A rather chaotic first edition of the new Davis Cup Finals has
been blighted by late finishes with Italy and the U.S. finishing
at 4 a.m. the previous night.
Pospisil struck the winning volley after midnight on Thursday to
end a day that also finished the remaining group matches to
complete the last-eight lineup.
Serbia sealed their place in the quarter-finals in
straightforward fashion with singles wins for Filip Krajinovic
and Novak Djokovic over France, sealing top spot in Group A.
Defeat meant last year's runners-up France joined 2018 winners
Croatia as early departures.
Britain's Group E decider against Kazakhstan went to the wire
with doubles duo Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski edging Leon
Smith's side home for the second day running.
Former world number one Andy Murray was left out but his
replacement Kyle Edmund beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 6-3.
Alexander Bublik beat Dan Evans 5-7 6-4 6-1 to level the tie and
raise hopes among the vociferous Kazakh fans, but Murray and
Skupski easily beat Bublik and Kukushkin 6-1 6-4 to clinch it.
In what is being nicknamed the World Cup of tennis, Britain will
face old soccer rivals Germany on Saturday.
Germany made sure of top spot in Group C ahead of Argentina with
a 2-1 victory over Chile. Argentina crept into the
quarter-finals one of the two best runners-up and will take on
Spain on Friday when the hosts will be without their number-two
player Roberto Bautista Agut, whose father died on Thursday.
Saturday matches have been brought forward by half an hour to
try and avoid the past-midnight finishes.
Djokovic, who has been positive about the new format and is on a
14-match winning streak in singles in the competition, said the
late finishes were a problem.
"I heard about the 4 a.m. finish," Djokovic said. "I think it
was always going to happen, knowing that you have 18 teams and
you're trying to squeeze everything in one week."
The International Tennis Federation voted to change the format
in 2018 in partnership with Spanish investment company Kosmos
who have pledged $3 billion over 25 years.
The World Group, which featured home-and-away ties across the
year before a November final, has now been replaced by an
18-nation showpiece in one city.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis and Stephen
Coates)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
