Felix fires Canada to victory against Finland at Davis Cup

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/felix-auger-aliassime/ag37/overview'Felix Auger-Aliassime/a moved Canada to the brink of qualification in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage on Thursday in Manchester, where he moved past a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/otto-virtanen/v0am/overview'Otto Virtanen/a 6-2, 6-3 to give the former champion an unassailable 2-0 lead against Finland in Group D./p
pCanada entered its second tie in Manchester off the back of a 2-1 opening win against Argentina. With the top two in Group D advancing to the Final 8 in Malaga in November, Auger-Aliassime was quick to secure his nation a second point after a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/denis-shapovalov/su55/overview'Denis Shapovalov/a defeated a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/eero-vasa/v993/overview'Eero Vasa/a 7-6(2), 6-2 in the first match of the day./p
pAuger-Aliassime was dominant on serve throughout his 73-minute win, saving all three break points he faced and winning 86 per cent (32/37) of points behind his first delivery./p
pThe 24-year-old, who was part of the team that beat Australia in the Davis Cup Finals title match in 2022, now holds a 8-3 record in Davis Cup singles matches. He is set to face Great Britain’s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jack-draper/d0co/overview'Jack Draper/a in Canada’s final Group D match on Sunday. Great Britain beat Finland 2-1 in its opening match./p
pEarlier, Shapovalov backed up his win against Argentine a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/francisco-cerundolo/c0au/overview'Francisco Cerundolo/a by overcoming Vasa in straight sets. The former No. 10 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has rediscovered his form in Manchester following disappointing first-round exits in Montreal and at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a last month./p
pAuger-Aliassime and Shapovalov will team against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a champion a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/harri-heliovaara/h808/overview'Harri Heliovaara/a and Virtanen in the doubles rubber./p
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pIn Group C, Germany backed up its opening 3-0 win against Slovakia with a 3-0 victory against Chile on Thursday./p
pStraight sets victories for a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/maximilian-marterer/mn13/overview'Maximilian Marterer/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/yannick-hanfmann/h997/overview'Yannick Hanfmann/a, and doubles team a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tim-puetz/pc68/overview'Tim Puetz/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/kevin-krawietz/kb92/overview'Kevin Krawietz/a, leave the former champion sitting above the United States, Slovakia and Chile./p
p“Before our first match we said ‘Okay we need six matches out of nine’,” German captian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/michael-kohlmann/k257/overview'Michael Kohlmann/a said. “Now we have won six matches out of six. I think that’s pretty impressive. Especially Yannick, to get this win today against (Alejandro) Tabilo, a Top-20 player, the way he played, the way he handled the situation after maybe not playing his best match on Tuesday was very impressive.”/p
pHanfmann was at his free-flowing best in defeating Tabilo 7-5 6-3 in 90 minutes. His third career singles victory in Davis Cup clinched the tie after Marterer had blitzed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tomas-barrios-vera/bs86/overview'Tomas Barrios Vera/a 6-1 6-3 in an 80-minute contest earlier./ppThe Netherlands rallied past Brazil 2-1 after dropping the first singles match. Dutchmen a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/wesley-koolhof/kc41/overview'Wesley Koolhof/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/botic-van-de-zandschulp/v812/overview'Botic van de Zandschulp/a secured the victory for their home country by defeating a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-matos/mo41/overview'Rafael Matos/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/marcelo-melo/m919/overview'Marcelo Melo/a 6-4, 7-6(5). Brazilian teenager a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/joao-fonseca/f0fv/overview'Joao Fonseca/a downed Van de Zandschulp 6-4, 7-6(3) to open the day before a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tallon-griekspoor/gj37/overview'Tallon Griekspoor/a beat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thiago-monteiro/mj08/overview'Thiago Monteiro/a 7-6(2), 6-4./pp

Australia swept Czechia 3-0 in Group B action. a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thanasi-kokkinakis/kd46/overview'Thanasi Kokkinakis/a overcame a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jakub-mensik/m0ni/overview'Jakub Mensik/a 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3 and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexei-popyrin/p09z/overview'Alexei Popyrin/a led Thomas Machac when the 23-year-old retired after the first game. Machac yesterday retired against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a due to cramps. a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/matthew-ebden/e690/overview'Matthew Ebden/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/max-purcell/ph71/overview'Max Purcell/a defeated a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jakub-mensik/m0ni/overview'Jakub Mensik/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/adam-pavlasek/pg32/overview'Adam Pavlasek/a 6-4, 6-2./p
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