Team Canada began the 2024 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage with a victory over Argentina on Tuesday. In Group D action from the AO Arena in Manchester, England, Canada beat Argentina two matches to one.
The Team Canada victories came in singles. Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario defeated Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-3 and then Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec defeated Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-3.
If you go by the world rankings, Shapovalov’s win over Cerundolo would have been considered an upset. Cerundolo is ranked 31st in the world, while Shapovalov is ranked 100th. Shapovalov had six aces compared to zero for Cerundolo. Unforced errors were another key statistic, as Cerundolo had 49, while Shapovalov had 42. The ace statistic was also the reason why Auger-Aliassime beat Baez, as Auger-Aliassime had seven aces compared to zero for Baez.
This was the second time in two meetings head-to-head that Shapovalov has beaten Cerundolo. Shapovalov also won 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the 2022 Rolex Paris Indoor Masters. Shapovalov has had great success at this tournament in the past. In 2019, he reached the final before losing 6-3, 6-4 to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. This was the first ever meeting between Baez and Auger-Aliassime.
Canada will next play Finland on Thursday and Great Britain on Sunday. The top two teams in the group will play in the Davis Cup knockout stage in Malaga, Spain in November.
