Britain advances after Canadian strikes ump

Britain reached the Davis Cup quarterfinals in bizarre circumstances on Sunday when Canadian Denis Shapovalov defaulted for inadvertently blasting a ball into the umpire’s face.

Shapovalov, 17, who was born in Israel before his parents migrated to Canada, had lost the first two sets against Kyle Edmund in the fifth and deciding rubber when he hammered the ball away in a fit of rage at 2-1 down in the third set.

Although he meant to hit the ball into the stands, it flew straight into the left eye of umpire Arnaud Gabas.

The Frenchman iced the wound, but could not continue and had no option but to disqualify Wimbledon boys’ champion Shapovalov.

Gabas was being taken to Ottawa General Hospital for a precautionary evaluation.

“No one is nicer or carries themselves better for a 17 year old than Shapovalov,” tweeted his disappointed teammate Vasek Pospisil. “Everyone can see that today was an accident. Can happen to anyone.” Edmund had taken the first two sets 6-3, 6-4 and seemed on the way to victory in the third when everyone inside the arena was shocked by the sudden turn of events.

“It is a surprise what happened at the end there and it is a shame,” said Britain’s captain Leon Smith. “I feel for the young lad. He’s a great talent and he has learned a harsh lesson.

The win capped a fine comeback for Britain, who had come into the day leading 2-1 before Pospisil leveled the world group first-round tie with a 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 win over Dan Evans.

The victory means Britain will head to France for a quarterfinal tie scheduled for April 7-9.

Spain and Belgium were the other two teams to qualify for the last eight after Sunday’s matches.

Belgium beat Germany for the first time in nine tries, while Spain qualified by winning both its singles rubbers in Croatia.

On Monday, defending-champion Argentina was overcome by Italy, which advances to the quarterfinals. Australia, France, the United States and Serbia all qualified on Saturday.