Raonic embraces leadership role at Davis Cup
VANCOUVER • World No. 15 Milos Raonic will lead off in the first of two singles matches Friday as the No. 12 ranked Canadians attempt to upset the top-ranked team from Spain in their best-of-five Davis Cup World Group tie.
Raonic will play Albert Ramos, No. 51 in the ATP rankings, in the debut match at the University of British Columbia before Frank Dancevic takes on Marcel Granollers, the highest ranked Spanish player in the competition, in the following singles. Granollers is No. 34 in the ATP singles rankings.
Dancevic, who has represented Canada since 2002 in Davis Cup, was given the nod by team captain Martin Laurendeau as Canada’s second singles player because of concerns over the staying power of Vasek Pospisil. The 22-year-old Pospisil is back after recovering from a bout of mononucleosis and will play doubles Saturday alongside Daniel Nestor, Canada’s most capped Davis Cup player, against the Spanish pair of Granollers and Marc Lopez.
In Sunday’s reverse singles, Raonic will play Granollers in the first match followed by Dancevic against Ramos.
Spain, a five-time Davis Cup champion, is without its top three singles players — Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro — and is considered vulnerable if Raonic wins both of his singles matches as expected and Dancevic or the doubles team can pull off an upset.
Canada has never progressed beyond the first round of the World Group.