ATP Cup: Canada, Belgium and Norway celebrate opening wins
Canada, Belgium and Norway are the first winners of the ATP Cup. Denis Shapovalov prevailed against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the highlight game of the day.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jan 03, 2020, 09:44 am
The 2020 tennis season was opened by the encounter between Belgium and the Republic of Moldova. After the organizers mistakenly played the Romanian instead of the Moldavian anthem, the events in Sydney went on as expected.
First Steve Darcis prevailed against Alexander Cozbinov with 6: 4, 6: 7 (4) and 7: 5, David Goffin followed with a 6: 4 and 6: 1 victory over Radu Albot. The Belgians also remained victorious in doubles: Sander Gille and Joran Vlieg held out 6: 7 (5), 7: 6 (4) and 11: 9 after a matchball against Cozbinov and Albot.
Canada clearly beat Greece
In Brisbane, the group F duel between Canada and Greece increased. After Felix Auger-Aliassime the world rankings-487. Michail Pervolarakis had clearly defeated 6: 1 and 6: 3, Denis Shapovalov had a small surprise against Stefanos Tsitsipas : The Canadian forced the Greeks to their knees in a good game with 7: 6 (6) and 7: 6 (4) , In the final doubles, Shapovalov / Auger-Aliassime won against Pervolarakis / Petros Tsitsipas with 6: 2 and 6: 3.
In Perth there was a sensation at the end of the day session: Norway won 2-1 against the USA. Taylor Fritz had led the Americans with a 6-2 and 6-2 victory over Viktor Durasovic, Casper Ruud was equal after a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (10) and 7-5 win over John Isner out. The Norwegian fended off two match balls in the tiebreak of the second set.
With the final 4: 6, 6: 3 and 10: 5 victory of Ruud / Durasovic against Austin Krajicek / Rajeev Ram in doubles, the Norwegians took the lead in Group D for the first time. In the night session, Italy and Russia still face each other in this group.