Canadian men top Australia at Davis Cup

MADRID Canada’s tennis revolution continued as it claimed its first ever Davis Cup victory over Australia to reach the semifinals on Thursday, with 150th-ranked Vasek Pospisil the hero once again.

The 29-year-old from Vancouver recorded his third successive singles win in the revamped finals at Madrid’s La Caja Magica, beating John Millman 7-6(7), 6-4, but Alex De Minaur levelled the tie when he recovered from a set down to beat Denis Shapovalov 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Pospisil and Shapovalov joined forces in the deciding doubles rubber against Jordan Thompson and John Peers, winning 6-4, 6-4 in front of several hundred delirious Canadian fans.

Canada will face either Serbia or Russia in the semifinals on Saturday.

Australia, which won the last of its 28 Davis Cup crowns in 2003, was surprisingly without Nick Kyrgios, who won both his singles matches in the group stage wins over Colombia and Belgium, and he was sorely missed.

Canada’s tennis fortunes have soared recently, with Bianca Andreescu winning the U.S. Open women’s title this year.

The Canadians are now in only their third Davis Cup semifinal despite arriving in Spain without injured Milos Raonic and with fast-rising teenager Felix Auger-aliassime part of the team, but playing no part so far.

Canada beat the United States in the group phase on Tuesday, its first victory over its neighbours in 16 attempts.

Canada’s record against Australia was almost as bad, losing all 10 of the Davis Cup ties between the two countries.

But the big-serving Pospisil has been a man on a mission since arriving in the Spanish capital and gave his side a superb start as he beat 48th-ranked Millman.

It was appropriate that Pospisil, the player of the week, sealed the clinching doubles victory with a commanding last service game.