Team Canada is in the semifinals of the 2022 ATP Cup in Sydney, Australia. On Thursday, Canada won Group C with a 2-1 win over Germany. The Canadians won the group despite having an overall record of four wins and five losses in the nine matches played. They are in fact the first team in the history of the ATP Cup to reach the knockout round (either the quarterfinal or semifinal) with a losing record when it came to total matches played.
In Canada’s final tie to close out Group C action, Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario defeated Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 7-4, 4-6, 6-3. Then Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated world number three Alexander Zverev of Germany, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
The fact that Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime both came away with singles wins against Germany was interesting when you consider the fact that Shapovalov had a losing record of 2-5 versus Struff, and Auger-Aliassime was only 1-4 versus Zverev heading into their match. However Auger-Aliassime’s win over Zverev came in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2021, where Auger-Aliassime was victorious, 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4 in five outstanding sets.
Canada will now play Russia in the semifinals of the 2022 ATP Cup on Friday evening in Canada (Saturday in Sydney). The Russians will be led by world number two Daniil Medvedev, who won the 2021 U.S. Open. The winner of the Canada-Russia semifinal will face Spain in the final on Sunday.
