Canada Wins! - 7 Apr 2013

Wow! what an exciting weekend for the home crowd here in Vancouver!  

Vasek Pospisil opened the proceedings by jumping to a two-set lead in the opening rubber against Andreas Seppi and the crowd began to buzz.  But Seppi was just finding his range on the medium-fast indoor surface and scored breaks in the final 3 sets 57 46 64 63 63.  It was definitely deflating for both Pospisil and the crowd - like the air was being slowly sucked out of the arena by Seppi's superior play - this is why he's #18 in the world.

I thought Milos Raonic would have his hands full against the quick-handed artistry of Fabio Fognini, but the serving machine was firing on all cylinders in a 64 76(4) 75 scoreline that looks closer than it felt.  Kudos to Fognini however for some great and entertaining shots and hanging tight to the end.

The doubles was simply master theater.  Pospisil and Daniel Nestor jumped out to a two-set lead 63 64 and seemed to be cruising to victory by breaking the second Italian service game of the 3rd.  The Canadians were playing well:  Nestor was steady and Pospisil was returning superbly and showing very intelligent net play.  But the Italians, Daniel Bracciali and Fognini dug in and played solid low-error tennis with some spectacular defensive gets at the net that turned the tide.  At the same time, Nestor seemed to be tiring and Pospisil became error-prone and could not seem to find a safe place to return the ball - either missing the court or getting picked off by the net man.  

The Italians broke back, and broke again, then broke in the 4th set to even things with two 63 sets.  Then the drama began.  As the fifth set began, the general feeling among much of the crowd was one of impending disaster - the tide seemed to have turned for the Italians - it was very reminiscent of Pospisil's loss from the previous day.  He seemed a strong starter but unable to maintain a high level while his opponents raised the pressure.  Disaster seemed imminent and if the doubles should be lost, there seemed little chance that Pospisil, Levine, or Dancevic would take down Fognini in the tie's final match - and only if Raonic could get by Seppi.  The mood was glum.

But Pospisil was burning with a deep inner fire.  After the previous day's collapse - that's too harsh, actually, he just didn't have the tools to withstand the growing barrage of a player ranked more than 100 places above him - he seemed to visibly improve.  He found the range again on his returns and according to Nestor - who was fighting a calf injury - Vasek was covering three-quarters of the court.  That was an exaggeration - Nestor himself continued to play solidly if not spectacularly.  But Pospisil proved invincible on serve, scoring 87% first serves in for the fifth set.

Breaks were exchanged in the 5th and the score reached 5-5.  A long series of holds began, the Italians serving first at even scores and always up one game at the change overs.  I don't remember any break points for the Italians (they would have been match points) in the next 18 games, but the Canadians had 7 seven or more break chances, scattered over 3 or 4 games.  Both Fognini and especially Bracciali seemed to save their best serving for break points and repeatedly escaped.  The crowd, reinvigorated in the fifth, was wild on every break point opportunity, but was constantly disappointed.

Finally at 13-all, the Canadians broke through and secured a break for 14-13.  Pospisil was up to serve next.  Would he crack?  With ice in the belly he hit 4 monster serves and closed out the set 15-13 to the raucous cheers from a wild, emotionally-charged, and partially inebriated crowd.  Pospisil exploded in joyful bouncing and fist pumps and in nearly strangling the phlegmatic Nestor in a leaping embrace, coaxed him into some joyful expression.  The crowd was ecstatic, people were crying, and the mood of relief and exuberance rivalled that usually reserved by Canadians for hockey.

Sunday dawned amid huge expectation from the Canadian fans.  Surely Milos, our tennis Messiah could not fail.  But would the weight of expectation empower or crush him?  And could the smooth power stroking of Seppi survive the Raonic bomb and dominate the rallies?

Raonic came out serving lasers.  Seppi could not seem to find the range on the serve and seemed demoralized by the aggressive forehands and net play that Raonic used to back up his missiles.  The first two sets fell 64 64 to the Canadian.  But what surprised and impressed me was the quality of Raonic's backhand.  Yes he seemed to be holding with ease, but to break, he had to rally and outplay Seppi.  Raonic was consistently hitting penetrating backhands, usually to set up the point, but sometimes outright winners.  Granted there were a few ducks as well, but he seemed to be sustaining aggression from all his strokes.  Surely victory was inevitable?

But Seppi was not done.  Just as he had against Pospisil, Seppi found his range.  In the third set he seemed to find a bead on the Raonic serve and began returning bullets to the corners, especially from his forehand.  In general the Seppi forehand was becoming more and more deadly, controlling points, turning defense into offense, and earning winners.  Seppi won the first three games of the third and road that single break to 63.

Could Seppi pull another two-set-down-houdini as he had against Pospisil, slowly dialling in his game?  In the fourth both players held serve easily to open but in the 3rd game Raonic began to struggle on his serve the way he had in the 3rd set.  Seppi was returning it and Raonic was hitting both first and costly second serve faults.  

The crowd became resolute in its cheering - unrelentingly willing their man to victory - determined, aggressive, and loud.  The energy seemed to bolster Milos.  He found his serve again, held, and as the set progressed, his ground game seemed to get better and better on the back of penetrating forehands and solid backhands.  Seppi could not withstand the onslaught.  But both players held to 5-5 and a tiebreak appeared inevitable.  Raonic held to wild cheering, 6-5.  Then he played a sublime game punishing the baseline-hugging Seppi with aggressive stroking off both wings and broke the Italian to manic cheers from a delirious crowd, taking the tie for the Canadians.

The celebration was exuberant and the crowd even cheered the prospect of facing Djokovic-led Serbia in Serbia in the next round.  At the end of the day Canada advances to its first world group semi-final approximating it's best ever performance in 1913.  That year was the first year Canada participated in Davis Cup.  Canada won two rounds to make the playoff final against the US for the right to face Great Britain in the challenge round.  Of course, the competition was not nearly as deep back then, and this year's performance by the Canadians is by far Canada's most impressive Davis cup outing.