Canada is heading to the quarterfinals at the inaugural Davis Cup Finals after sweeping a pair of singles matches versus the United States on Tuesday.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., clinched the win in the best-of-three tie, beating Taylor Fritz 7-6 (6), 6-3.
Shapovalov, ranked a career-high 15th in the world, finished off No. 32 Fritz with an ace.
Earlier, Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil recorded his second major upset in as many days when the world No. 150 beat No. 36 Reilly Opelka 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7).
“Canada’s really in the best place it’s been in tennis history,” said Pospisil. “We have incredible young talents… and then some older guys, which I guess I can say I’m older now, myself now and Milos (Raonic). “Right now we’re on a run and we have tons of great players. It’s just how it goes.”
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Later, Americans Sam Querrey and Jack Sock took the doubles match versus Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime in a walkover.
Canada (2-0) has now clinched Group F after winning all four of its singles matches versus the Americans and Italy.
Canada has lost both doubles matches, with Shapovalov and Pospisil falling in three sets to Italy on Monday.
Seven of the nine sets in singles matches went to tiebreaks, with Canada winning six of them.
It was Canada’s first win versus the U.S., in 16 Davis Cup ties. Canada had a match record of 3-70 against the Americans entering Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Pospisil, from Vancouver, beat world No. 12 Fabio Fognini on Monday en route to Canada’s 2-1 victory over Italy. Pospisil was a late replacement against Italy for Montreal’s Auger-Aliassime, who was recovering from an ankle injury. The six-foot-11 Opelka, known for his big serve, fought off one match point versus Pospisil in the second set to tie it at 6-6. But Pospisil rebounded to end it in two sets.
Pospisil, who reached a career-high No. 25 in the rankings in 2014, tumbled down the list after missing the first half of 2019 following back surgery.
